great north air ambulance great north air ambulance the great north air ambulance service (gnaas) is a registered charity and air ambulance based in the united kingdom. it operates a dedicated helicopter emergency service for the north of england with three aircraft. it serves north yorkshire, the north-east, cumbria, and the scottish borders. great north air ambulancethe pride of cumbria aircraft (g-nhab) based in langwathby, near penrith, cumbriafounded1991foundergrahame pickeringtypeair ambulance, charitable organisation registration no.reg charity no: 1092204locationlangwathby, cumbria urlay nook, county durham area served north yorkshire, the north-east, cumbria and scottish borders.chief executive officerdavid stocktonchair of the boardbrian joblingaircraft operatedeurocopter as365 dauphin n2 & n3revenue (2022) £8.4 millionstaff (2022) 101volunteers (2022) 49websitewww.greatnorthairambulance.co.uk current operations gnaas operates three dauphin helicopters from its two bases at langwathby, near penrith in cumbria, and urlay nook, near eaglescliffe in county durham. between july and december 2021, the service had an average of 85 helicopter call-outs per month. a helicopter landing in response to a call-out in patterdale. in hours of darkness, when the helicopters do not fly, north east ambulance service funds a medical emergency response incident team (merit), which is staffed by a doctor and paramedic team from gnaas. the merit service extended in november 2018 to cover thursday to sunday nights, which were previously covered on an on-call basis. the service uses volvo xc90 vehicles. in 2014–2015, gnaas had operating costs of £4.6 million and an income of £6.2 million. in 2021–2022, the operating costs were £6.6 million against an income of £8.4 million, which included a total of £380,000 from government contracts and grants. in 2020, gnaas began trials in using jet suits to get from landed helicopters on call-outs to casualties in locations difficult to access. the simulation exercise showed a casualty, whose position it would take 25 minutes to reach on foot, could be reached in a jet suit in 90 seconds. current helicopters registrationmodelyear builtyear entered servicenicknamebase location g-nhaeas-365n-3 dauphin 220072021pride of cumbria iilangwathby g-nhadas-365n-3+ dauphin20152020guardian of the north iiurlay nook g-nhacas-365n-2 dauphin 219962010noneurlay nook history g-gnaa on a call-out in 2008. the air ambulance service began in 1994 with the leased eurocopter as350 écureuil helicopter g-naas. mbb bo 105 helicopters were operated from 2003, and an md 902 from 2006. 2006 also saw the introduction of the first dauphin helicopter, g-hems. in 2010, the charity consolidated around a fleet of three dauphin n2 helicopters, which were the first aircraft it owned. this ended the practice of leasing aircraft, which created financial issues. two of these three dauphin n2 helicopters were later replaced by newer dauphin n3 helicopters g-nhad and g-nhae between 2019 and 2020. this was done to mitigate the risk involved with flying older aircraft. former helicopters (incomplete) registrationmodelyear builtyear entered serviceyear left servicenicknamebase location g-naasas-355f-1 twin squirrel198219942003blyth northumberland g-pashas-355f-1 ecureuil 219812002teesside international airport g-wypabo.105dbs-4198920032006 g-waanbo-105db19712004 g-gnaamd-902 explorer20002006guardian of the northteesside international airport g-hemssa-365n dauphin19822006the pride of cumbrialangwathby g-nhaaas-365n-2 dauphin1991guardian of the northteesside international airport g-nhabas-365n-2 dauphin19912021the pride of cumbrialangwathby in the media from 8 march 2018, the charity appeared on channel 4's tv programme emergency helicopter medics, which followed the crews responding and treating emergency patients. other air ambulances that featured in the show include thames valley air ambulance and east anglian air ambulance.