EADS North America’s American Eurocopter Business Unit
Mobilizes Airborne Relief Missions for Hurricane Katrina Victims

Update: September 2, 2005

The American Eurocopter business unit of EADS North America is carrying out critical rescue and support missions in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, conducting operations that have included challenging rooftop airlifts and evacuation flights from an Interstate levee.

American Eurocopter mobilized two helicopters with pilots and ground crew within hours of the hurricane’s passage, offering support to both Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour and Senators Trent Lott and Thad Cochran. Since Tuesday, August 30, the EC135 and EC120 aircraft have flown extensively in the Gulf Coast areas of both Louisiana and Mississippi.

The two company helicopters are being flown by American Eurocopter pilots, carrying medical supplies and emergency medical technicians into the ravaged region, airlifting critical care and dialysis patients from a levee along Interstate 10 in Louisiana, and transporting infants requiring medical attention from New Orleans to outlying medical facilities.

During a series of rotations on September 1, the EC120 rescued 66 persons from the roof of Tulane University in New Orleans.   The difficulty of these flights was compounded by deteriorating weather conditions to less than a half-mile of visibility, making the operations even more challenging.

With the increasing presence of military helicopters in New Orleans, operations are now being concentrated along the Mississippi coast, where there is a need for air support in moving food and water to the vast number of people isolated in the region.

The company’s helicopters are being joined by two more EC120s and an AS350B3 provided by three American Eurocopter corporate customers, who have volunteered to assist in the growing humanitarian effort.

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Tel.: (703) 236-3300 · Fax: (703) 236-3301