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Quiet Copter
updated: Oct 17, 2012, 1:15 PM
Source: Samarkand Neighborhood Association
Steven Fellows, Executive Vice President & COO of Cottage Hospital,sent the following information.
CALSTAR's new reduced noise helicopter will be on board in the next few weeks, pending FAA
clearances. As you will note, the aircraft is 50%quieter than the current helicopter and it is 7 dB below
the ICAOstandards which is all fantastic news, not only for the community butspecifically for the
neighborhood. The photograph below shows of the newhelicopter being painted and "rebranded" for
CALSTAR. Gone is thewhite and blue coloring and in its place is a red helicopter with whiteand blue
highlights. Steven notes that CALSTAR handles nearly 72% of allflights to Cottage Hospital and will be
using this new quieterhelicopter.
The following information was forwarded from CALSTAR:
One of CALSTAR's major criteria in choosing the EC 135 is its reducednoise footprint. We should see a
significant reduction in noise with thenew aircraft and I anticipate community reaction will follow. Pasted
infrom Eurocopter's website(http://www.eurocopterusa.com/products/EC135-overview.asp) is
thefollowing statement:
As one of the quietest helicopters in its class, the EC135 isapproximately 7 db below ICAO standards.
This level represents aperceivable noise reduction of approximately 50 percent compared toolder-
generation helicopters in the same category - which is ofparticular importance to customers regularly
flying over cities and indensely-populated areas, including emergency medical services and
lawenforcement agencies.
Our new Aircraft is leaving the paint shop this week and our pilots arein Grand Prarie Texas for training.
It should be online by the holidays,any delays at this point would be related to the regulatory
and inspection process of the FAA. Below is a photo from about two weeks ago.CALSTAR will
simultaneously roll out a rebranding program along with thenew aircraft.
Send this picture as a postcard
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