Handover of baton at the Christoph air rescue station 18

Almost everyone in the Würzburg district knows the bright-yellow rescue helicopter with the large letters “ADAC”. The flying machine with the radio call name Christoph 18 is stationed at the Main Clinic in Ochsenfurt. With the turn of the year 2021/22, there was now also a generation change in the air rescue station in Ochsenfurt, informs the district office in a press release: After eleven years as station manager and responsible station pilot, Christian Stangl handed over the control stick to younger hands on January 1st. At the age of 60, he retired from active air rescue services due to age.

?? When people are in need and things get tight, then the Yellow Angel is there ??, summarized District Administrator Thomas Eberth during his farewell round at the hangar in Ochsenfurt. You deserve the highest praise and recognition for the way in which you have managed, developed and shaped this station in recent years, but also for the many assignments.

Achim Keck is the new head and station pilot

The successor is assured: With Achim Keck, who also works at the Ochsenfurt site, the station management and the position as station pilot has been taken over by a proven specialist, according to the press letter from the district office. The helicopter pilot has been flying with Christoph 18 for eleven years. As a? Franconian veteran ?? the Tauberrettersheimer knows the region and its area of ​​operation like the back of his hand. Christoph 18 covers an area from Aschaffenburg to Nuremberg and from Bad Kissingen to Heilbronn within a radius of around 70 kilometers around Ochsenfurt. The air rescuers fly almost two thirds of their missions in the Würzburg district.

Visibly moved, Christian Stangl looked back at least briefly on the past few years in Ochsenfurt and the sky above. ?? The time as the responsible station pilot in Ochsenfurt was a real dream for me ??, he summed up. ?? It was one of the nicest things I have ever been able to experience professionally. With the team in Ochsenfurt and our partners, anything is really possible! ?? Above all, Stangl praised the cooperation with the doctors at the Main Clinic as well as the representatives of the aid organizations and the Association for Rescue Services and Fire Brigade Alerting (ZRF) in the Würzburg district.

New medical director

As early as 2021, the positions of medical director and? Chief paramedic ?? Change took place. Dr. Julian Küstermann, senior physician in anesthesia and intensive care medicine, worked for five years as the medical director of the Ochsenfurt air rescue center. He played a key role in shaping the medical development of work on board the helicopter in the context of the ADAC concept and handed over his task to his colleague Tobias Schellenberger in October. With the specialist in anesthesiology, a committed and experienced emergency doctor could also be found from the ranks of the Main Clinic, according to the district office.

After 40 years as a paramedic on the helicopter, Ernst Freier also handed over his job to a younger one. Thorsten Stadler replaced him as “coordinating helicopter emergency medical services crew member”, or “chief medical officer” for short, in July. With Ernst Freier, the rescue team is leaving a “man from the very beginning”, as District Administrator Eberth noted. In the past four decades, Freier had flown in addition to the ADAC rescue service, also for the DRF-Luftrettung and the Federal Border Police and worked as a paramedic for the Malteser emergency service.

Experienced paramedic

With Thorsten Stadler, however, an equally experienced successor has been secured. Stadler is an emergency paramedic at the BRK ambulance station in Giebelstadt and is also a volunteer at the local Red Cross. Stadler has been flying on Christoph 18 at the Ochsenfurt air rescue location for nine years.

Paul Justice, Managing Director of the Association for Rescue Services and Fire Brigade Alerting (ZRF), thanked the outgoing rescue team for the? Decades of passion and the friendly approach to helping people ??. After a great deal of praise for the previous crew, he and District Administrator Eberth wished the new team a safe flight and a safe return.

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