Page 6 - Volume 13 Number 1

Keewatin Air’s President/Accountable Executive Wayne McLeod (left) and Person Responsible for Maintenance (PRM) Jason Kendall stand beside one of the company’s King Air B200s.
(John Kliewen, Keewatin Air staff)
Keewatin Air operates a fleet of 12 air ambulance air- craft, including nine Beech- craft King Air B200 models, at seven stations throughout the region. Supporting the operations is a group of well- trained professionals. The company has 45 pilots and 45 aircraft maintenance design- ers strategically positioned throughout their northern bases of operations. Unlike many other air ambulance operators, they employ their own medical professionals and currently have about 65 registered flight nurses, re- spiratory therapists, critical and advanced care paramed- ics and psychiatric nurses.
“You have to wonder if when Beechcraft engineers were designing the King Air
back in the day, did they think someone was really going to fly their aircraft into minus 65 degrees Fahrenheit and be loading patients on it and getting out of these short, gravel shale strips?” said John Kliewer, director of Business Development & Strategic Planning for Keewatin Air.
That’s exactly what Keewatin Air does. Performance that impressed company executives when they got their first King Air, in 1995, is simply routine and expected operation today. Still, they give credit to the King Air platform for making it possible to grow the business into today’s high-quality air service that provides safe, reliable and extensive 24-hour emergency air ambulance services for remote communities.
“There are very few aircraft that you could put the kind of hours and cycles on it that we do and have such a reliable product,” said Wayne McLeod, a former chief pilot at Keewatin Air and now the firm’s president.
“And all the way to the end of life for the airframe, right to 30,000 hours,” added Jason Kendall, Keewatin’s Person Responsible for Maintenance.
Helping shape Canada’s medevac industry
Keewatin Air formed in 1971 to provide charter services using one single-engine Cessna 185 aircraft and quickly expanded by adding a de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver.
In the early days of the operation, Keewatin Air would dispatch an airplane to a remote community to meet a nurse from the local nursing station, who would
KING AIR
WINDOW INSERTS
STC’D-PMA/FAA APPROVED
What Is the Difference
Between the G & D Aero Tinted Window Insert and the Polaroid Interior Window Insert?
The $$$$$ Cost
With the G & D Aero tinted window you have full time protection against the sun and the ability to keep your passengers cool and comfortable. No need to make any adjustments to the windows because the inserts work full time.
G&D AERO PRODUCTS
951-443-1224
4 • KING AIR MAGAZINE
JANUARY 2019