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TAR Flight (Shock Trauma Air Rescue) is the Air Opera- tions Division of Travis County, Texas. It is a public safety air rescue program that
is unique because it performs critical transport, firefighting, rescue, and limited law enforcement support. STAR Flight is based in Austin and serves not only the citizens of Travis County, but also 19 other counties within a 75-mile radius. The ma- jority of the calls are to assist those who are experiencing medical problems or suf- fering from traumatic injuries from motor vehicle crashes or other activities. When requested, STAR Flight regularly trans- ports very sick patients in rural hospitals to larger, better-equipped hospitals. STAR Flight is dispatched through the
same 911 systems as fire and ambulance services, and many times several services are dispatched at the same time. The pro- gram is utilized within the county as a first response Advance Life Support (ALS) ambulance. This means that many times a STAR Flight aircraft may arrive on scene in rural areas before the ground ambulance does. Any high-priority medical
request call that will take ground units more than twenty minutes arrival time triggers au- tomatic dispatch of aircraft to the scene. This is the main rea- son why STAR Flight is unique from other EMS air operations. Most air programs are not re- quested until an emergency unit arrives at the scene and determines that a helicopter is
needed. Travis County’s goal is anytime a call for assistance comes through, an ALS trained responder is on the scene within 20 minutes. For “scene calls” STAR Flight responds directly to where the emergency occurs, using their three Eurocopter EC145 helicopters. Each air- craft has a pilot, crew chief / hoist opera- tor, and rescue person on board.
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