Cornwall Air Ambulance · the UK’s first air ambulance – a charity funded by you
Cornwall Air Ambulance – Saving Lives Since 1987
The UK’s first dedicated air ambulance, flying over 1,000 missions a year across Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly – funded entirely by charity.
Cornwall Air Ambulance took to the skies on 1 April 1987 as the first helicopter emergency medical service in the United Kingdom. Today it is run by Cornwall Air Ambulance Trust, a local charity that receives no government funding towards its running costs, and its critical care teams bring advanced emergency treatment to patients wherever they are – on a remote beach, a cliff path, a farm or a busy road.
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Cornwall is a long, narrow county with a widely scattered population, many people living in remote farming and coastal communities. Narrow, winding roads become congested with holiday traffic in summer, and isolated beaches, cliff-tops and moorland are often hard or impossible to reach by road.
Cornwall’s main emergency department is at the Royal Cornwall Hospital (Treliske) in Truro, and the region’s Major Trauma Centre is at Derriford Hospital in Plymouth, across the Tamar. The air ambulance flies in a straight line, regardless of traffic, and can land close to the patient – and with around 5 million visitors a year, roughly one in five of its patients are holidaymakers.
- Fast response – airborne within about two minutes of a 999 call, reaching most of Cornwall in around 12 minutes and the Isles of Scilly in about 28 minutes.
- Critical care crews – a pilot plus two critical care paramedics, or a paramedic and a doctor, able to give hospital-level treatment at the scene.
- Modern helicopters – Leonardo AW169 aircraft, the first introduced in 2020 and a second in 2025, described by the charity as a mobile A&E for the skies.
- Day and night – night-vision flying since 2014, with critical care cars taking the team by road when the helicopter can’t fly.
- 365 days a year – covering all of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.
The first helicopter was a twin-engined Bolkow Bo 105, based at RAF St Mawgan, with a pool of ambulance service paramedics working in rotation alongside the pilot. With a single pilot, it could only fly five days a week for its first two years.
- 1987 – the UK’s first air ambulance enters service on 1 April.
- 2001–2014 – Eurocopter EC135 helicopters.
- 2014 – night flying begins, using night-vision equipped MD 902 helicopters.
- 2016 – a purpose-built headquarters opens at Newquay.
- 2020 – the first Leonardo AW169 enters service.
- 2025 – a second AW169 joins the fleet.
Keeping Cornwall Air Ambulance flying costs over £9 million a year, and every penny comes from the community. You can help by:
- making a one-off or regular monthly donation
- playing the charity lottery
- shopping at, or donating goods to, the charity shops
- volunteering at a shop or event
- taking on a fundraising challenge or joining an event
- giving in memory of a loved one, or leaving a gift in your will
- partnering with the charity through your business
Visit the Cornwall Air Ambulance website Support the charity
Take a look at the charity’s own website below, or open it in a new tab for news, events, the lottery and ways to donate.
If the preview doesn’t show, visit cornwallairambulancetrust.org.
Visit the Cornwall Air Ambulance website Support the charity