Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance launches appeal to fund second life-saving helicopter

8 September 2025

Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance (DSAA) has launched a 2ndHeli Appeal to raise the final £1 million needed to purchase and fit out a second air ambulance helicopter for the people of Dorset and Somerset.

This ambitious step forward will build on 25 years of remarkable service provided by the charity. If the appeal reaches its goal, it will enable the air ambulance crew to reach more patients, strengthen operational resilience and ultimately save even more lives.

As the busiest air ambulance in the South West, Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance is tasked to nearly 3,000 missions a year. Their current AW169 helicopter, fondly named ‘Peggy’, is flown more intensively than almost any other air ambulance of its kind in the UK.

But with increasing demand and unavoidable downtime for maintenance, a single helicopter is no longer enough.

A second helicopter will:

• Strengthen resilience and operational availability
• Maintain air operations when one aircraft is offline
• Be fitted with a state-of-the-art medical interior, enabling clinicians to deliver the highest level of care, day and night
• Provide an aircraft fleet, so that an extension of operating hours can be considered in future
• Enable hundreds of additional life-saving missions every year

Thanks to prudent financial planning and incredible supporter generosity, the charity has already secured the majority of funds needed. The remaining £1 million is the final push that will bring a second AW169 helicopter home.

Charles Hackett, CEO of Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance, said: “We are proud of how far we have come over the years, but we have reached the limit of what is possible with just one aircraft.

“With daily maintenance requirements, we cannot get more than 19 hours a day of flying, and the demands on ‘Peggy’ mean that faults and issue come around all too soon.

“People support our charity, because they believe in our ability to achieve extraordinary outcomes that wouldn’t otherwise happen.

“This care, this service, this gift to the people of Dorset and Somerset is lifesaving and very special, as every mission is funded by you. Without that wonderful support, our service would not exist.

“We now have an incredible opportunity to transform emergency care even further across the region, and hope the public, businesses and local communities will support us on our quest.

“With your continued support and others alike, we will bring a second helicopter into service next summer. Together, and only together, we can make this happen.”

Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance is a local life-saving charity which receives no direct funding from the Government and relies on donations and fundraising.

Their operational costs are over £10 million a year, and the approximate cost of one mission is £3,500.

More information can be found by visiting: www.dsairambulance.org.uk/2ndHeli or by calling: 01823 669604.