- Loganair is working with the Scottish Ambulance Service to convert its Twin Otter aircraft into a flying ambulance to transport coronavirus patients.
- There will be EpiShuttle single-patient isolation pods aboard the "flying ambulance".
- EpiShuttles can be configured to either protect the patient in the pod, or protect the pod's surroundings from the patient.
- Multiple countries are now using EpiShuttles amid the coronavirus pandemic.
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Regional Scottish airline Loganair is working with the Scottish Ambulance Service to convert its Twin Otter aircraft into a flying ambulance with isolation pods to transport coronavirus patients.
The European Union-funded "EpiShuttle" single patient isolation pods were created by Norwegian-based EpiGuard to be used in emergency medical transporters like ambulances, helicopters, and airplanes, according to its maker. It can also be used with stretchers and attachments to secure the pod to a transporter, such as Loganair's converted aircraft.
The Twin Otter, based out of Scotland's Glasgow Airport, isn't the only Loganair plane that will be converted to transport patients amid the coronavirus pandemic. The airline is now working on a larger Saab 340 aircraft conversion - set to be completed early April - that can fly to all but one highlands and islands airport while carrying two isolation pods and a medical team, according to Loganair.
The Ambulance Service has purchased eight pods, two of which will be used during its first mission on April 3. The other six pods will all be delivered to Scotland by mid-May.
In total, the Scottish Ambulance Service has invested over £500,000, about $619,850, on what its chief executive Pauline Howie has called the "latest available technology."
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