Angel Flight East Kootenay has a new addition to its fleet.
The non-profit has purchased a 1979 twin engined, 7 seat aircraft for transporting hospital patients to Kelowna and back.
Founder Brent Bidston says the plane is fully de-iced and better equipped for colder weather.
“because the mountains are so high, if we’re operating in cloud, even in the middle of summer, you tend to be operating in icing conditions. The great thing about this aircraft is that we can cope with that.” Bidston says. “In many occasions where the weather would have stopped us, we can now carry on.”
He says this means they wont need to turn as many patients away due to inclement weather.
“There’s no avoiding it, and even now that will still occasionally happen, but we’re hoping it will be a lot less then it has been,” he says. “So, right from the get go we knew that we needed a better aircraft, but it’s a very difficult thing to accomplish. Happily, we got there now.”
The aircraft was purchased thanks to donations from the RDEK, CBT, TECK and others.
The new plane will be stored in Angel Flight’s hangar at Canadian Rockies International Airport.
– Brent Bidston, Angel Flight East Kootenay founder
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