The Devon Air Ambulance Community Landing Site Network has achieved a major milestone, launching its 200th community landing site at Tews Lane Playing Field, Fremington, England.
The extensive network of 200 surveyed landing sites has allowed its aircraft to land in many towns and villages across Devon during the hours of darkness, enabling specialist medical crew to reach patients quickly and safely.
This network of community landing sites was first established in 2016 when the organization began the move to nighttime flying. Creating the pre-surveyed sites caught the imagination of the Devon’s supportive towns and villages quickly, and it did not take long to hit 100 sites with that number continuing to rise.
Graham Coates, landing sites manager at Devon Air Ambulance, said:
“It’s great news that a second community landing site in Fremington is now operational and we can reach even more local people by air during the hours of darkness. My thanks to the Fremington Parish Council for their ongoing and continued support for this project.
“We reached our previous milestone of the 150th site in June 2020 at Newton Ferrers, so to be able to celebrate our 200th site in 2024 is extremely exciting and I cannot wait to see how the landing sites continue to develop over the coming years.”
The celebrations were enjoyed by everyone in attendance including residents, parish councillors, children from Roundswell Community Primary Academy, Barnstable, along with Devon Air ambulance aircrew, staff and volunteers.
Fremington Parish Council has been working with Devon Air Ambulance for several years, initially regarding the community landing site at the football club and now at Tews Lane where this latest project had come to fruition. Councillors attended the launch of the 200th landing site in Fremington on Wednesday, gaining an exciting insight into the behind-the-scenes processes at DAA and the opportunity to see the charity’s critical care car and air ambulance up close.
Sue Kingdom, chair of Fremington Parish Council, said:
“We’ve been working with DAA for several years now, first with our site at the Beechfield playing field and now here at Queen Elizabeth II playing field, Tews Lane, and it’s just as exiting to also get this site operational as it was the first time round! We’re delighted that the project has been completed and we now have a second landing site for our community.”
Jude Wood, administrator and projects manager for Fremington Parish Council, said:
“We were so thrilled to be invited to this grand celebration of our second community landing site within the Parish of Fremington and the 200th for DAA’s network of sites. All the councillors who attended had a great time and we loved meeting the crew and staff that make this amazing charity’s achievements happen.
“The importance of the community landing sites in developing nighttime operations and the CLS network has been invaluable and continues to provide pre-surveyed and managed sites that crews can choose to land at when tasked in the hours of darkness.”
