Page 6 - June 2015 Volume 9, Number 6

With its leather interior and additional upgrades, Malcolm says the King Air is the perfect European executive transport.
He realized that a turboprop aircraft was required if a more satisfactory service was to be provided and if the business was to expand. In 1998, Malcolm was offered the opportunity to purchase a “used King Air 200 which had seen the world several times over.” He now readily admits that this was the best decision he ever made and says that the aircraft became an instant hit with both executive customers and ambulance contractors.
It’s strongly agreed that Malcolm’s opinion carries some weight due to his extensive experience in general aviation. “I have always been involved in GA, never having been interested in the airline industry. I started flying in the mid-1970s, gaining my license following a few years of gliding. I became a full-time glider tug pilot, as well as a flight instructor, to gain hours and earned my commercial license in 1980,” he said.
Malcolm also worked for various air taxi companies, learning the trade before starting Air Capital Charter. As a type rating examiner and instructor in the King Air and the PA3, Malcolm is responsible for the training and assessment of Air Capital’s 10 full-time pilots. “I like to train and test my own pilots, so I can ensure the consistency and high standard of my flight crew.”
Becoming a Leader
Over the years, Air Capital has survived the turbulent European economic conditions with a continual program of improvement and sensible expansion based on an ethos of tight cost control and a commitment to service and safety excellence. This philosophy has seen the company become the longest established and leading charter operator in southwest England.
4 • KING AIR MAGAZINE
The company’s fleet now consists of the three Super King Air 200s and five PA31s. The PA31s are engaged exclusively on contract air ambulance operations to Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. The King Air, G-WVIP, has been modified with Blackhawk -61 engines, Raisbeck streamlining modifications, BLR winglets and Frakes exhausts. It was acquired in December 2008 and was the first ever commercially registered Blackhawk B200 aircraft in Europe. It is faster, more fuel efficient, has a longer range and shorter take-off and landing capacity than the standard model, allowing it to be competitive with light corporate jets such as the Cessna Citation.
With its handsome leather-bound interior, the principal use is for executive and corporate travel. The company can also take care of their passengers’ entire journey including transfers, as well as hotel and restaurant bookings. Malcolm commented, “We were very proud to be the first commercial operator in Europe with this fabulous airplane. The King Air has always been a great aircraft, with the upgrades it is now the perfect European executive transport.”
An executive aviation handling facility was opened at Air Capital’s main base, Exeter Airport, in January 2011. Further validation of the level of service provided by the company came later in the same year with the award of ISO9001 status from the prestigious British Standards Institution.
The core medical business for Air Capital is the repatriation of UK residents who have had accidents or fallen ill abroad whilst on holiday, which can range from a requirement for an intensive care unit to a more simple broken bone. The two standard Super King Airs, G-KVIP (the original purchase in 1998 and still going strong) and G-ZVIP, carry out air ambulance operations throughout Europe and beyond, flying regularly as far as Tenerife in the Canary Islands, North Africa, Eastern Europe and the far reaches of Northern Europe. It is well known that the King Air is particularly good for this role due to the large entrance door and roomy cabin. Both have electric loading ramps and can be fitted with either single stretcher or two stretcher LifePort systems, the industry standard, which incorporate integral oxygen and power supply for monitors, ventilator, defibrillator, and suction and fluid pumps.
The company’s focus of the air ambulance business then was the coordination of pilots, aircraft and equipment, often partnering with hospitals and other third party providers of clinical staff. However, in 2012, Capital Air Ambulance was established within the existing company structure and Dr. Terry Martin, who is acknowledged as a world authority on air ambulance procedures, was appointed medical director to lead a specialist medical team. All medical staff are fully trained to be flight medical crew to the standard acknowledged by the UK’s National Health Service. In 2013, Capital Air Ambulance
JUNE 2015