Wiltshire Air Ambulance (WAA) have had to ground their Bell 429 helicopter after their operator Heli Charter Ltd went into voluntary liquidation. That move means that the company is no longer trading, which in turn invalidates their Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC) on which WAA relies. Without a nominated AOC holder, they cannot fly.

WAA issued a statement to HeliHub.com today which states “Wiltshire Air Ambulance has been made aware of the difficult events at Heli Charter, our Air Operator Certificate (AOC) holder. At this time we express our sympathies with the staff of Heli Charter who have been affected by what is happening. The charity has its own contingency plan in place and its implementation has already begun. For some time we have been looking to secure our own AOC and those preparations are well advanced and its issuance imminent. We will be making no further comment at this time.”

And then somewhat oddly, after the official “ENDS” below the statement, they then put the addendum “Note to editor: We continue to respond to medical emergencies from our two Rapid Response Vehicles“, which counts as “further comment” after they said they were not making any other comment.

We thus await WAA getting an AOC in their own right to allow them to fly again.

Jeremy Parkin – HeliHub.com