New air ambulance offers rapid medical aid

The Commercial Aircraft Corp of China, the country's dominant passenger jetliner manufacturer, has developed a medical variant of its C909 airliner, aiming to bolster the nation's air medical services.

The C909 air ambulance features a modular cabin design, enabling customized layouts based on patient needs and mission requirements. It can be used for both emergency first-aid missions and patient transport, said Chen Yong, chief designer of the C909 family.

He said that the cabin of a typical C909 medical configuration consists of three distinct functional sections: a medical expert zone, a support crew zone and an intensive care unit zone.

The expert area is equipped with height-adjustable and foldable tables, allowing medical specialists to use computers and related equipment. The ICU zone accommodates two critical-care stretchers, each capable of being equipped with devices such as defibrillator monitors, ventilators, infusion pumps and suction units, depending on the patients' condition.

Moreover, the seats in both the expert and support crew zones can be temporarily converted into six sets of double-tiered lightweight stretchers to accommodate increased capacity.

The air ambulance also has an electric-powered lift system at the rear door, allowing for the convenient loading and unloading of patients in a lying position, Chen explained.

He said that the C909 is characterized by its high safety rating and operational reliability.

"It has a large inner space, which means we can offer different layouts to users in accordance with their needs. For instance, we can replace the ICU section with other equipment and carry more patients with mild symptoms," the designer said. "Moreover, we have given the air ambulance an additional fuel tank, which enables the jet to fly farther."

The company worked with Ruijin Hospital affiliated with Shanghai Jiao Tong University's School of Medicine to build the air ambulance. Modified last year, it was used in a charitable medical tour in Yunnan province in December.

Formerly known as ARJ21, the C909 regional jetliner entered the market in November 2015 and made its first commercial flight in June 2016.

Since the C909's debut, 166 have been delivered to 13 customers in China and abroad. The aircraft operate on 721 routes and have facilitated more than 25 million passenger trips.

Internationally, C909 aircraft have been delivered to airlines in Indonesia, Laos and Vietnam, serving routes across Southeast Asia.

Besides the passenger and air ambulance aircraft, the C909 has three other models: a freighter, an emergency response command plane and an executive jet.