The history of the St. Gallen base
The St. Gallen base flies a wide range of missions. Besides attending to road accident victims and rescuing skiers, hikers and mountain climbers, the Eastern-Swiss Rega crew are frequently called out to transfer patients – often newborn babies – from one hospital to another. The St. Gallen crew flies more than 900 missions a year.
Missions beyond the Swiss borders
The base’s operational area covers the cantons of St. Gallen, Thurgau and Appenzell, as well as the Principality of Liechtenstein. It extends from Kreuzlingen to the Rhine Valley, and from Lake Constance to the Churfirsten mountain range. That is equivalent to a flying time from St. Gallen of around seven minutes. The national borders, too, are no obstacle for the St. Gallen helicopter; it is also called out to assist with rescue missions in neighbouring countries, for example, by the Lake Constance and Konstanz rescue services (Germany) or the rescue and fire services in Feldkirch (Voralberg, Austria).
From a motorway bridge to its own base
Rega’s air-rescue missions in Eastern Switzerland date back to 2 April 1981. The Alouette III with the registration number HB-XHZ was flown from Zurich to St. Gallen, where it was initially stationed at the Children’s Hospital. During the winter months, the helicopter found shelter under a motorway bridge. After overcoming numerous obstacles, the Rega crew were finally able to move into a new base in Winkeln, near Gossau, on 22 December 1984. In 1989, the HB-XHZ helicopter was replaced by the HB-XOO, an Alouette III. The next change in helicopter type followed in June 1994, when the crew received a high-performance Agusta A 109 K2. On 19 January 2002, the St. Gallen base flew its 10,000th mission. The first mission with Rega’s new rescue helicopter, the AgustaWestland Da Vinci HB-ZRX, was carried out on 27 October 2009. St. Gallen was the very first Rega base to operate this state-of-the-art mountain helicopter.
Welcome to the H145
At the beginning of June 2019, the Rega base in St. Gallen put its brand new H145 rescue helicopter into operation.
Profile
| Address | Rega St. Gallen Wehrstrasse 8 9015 St. Gallen |
|---|---|
| Radio code | "Rega 7" |
| No. of mission in 2023 | 941 |
| Range of missions | Traffic accidents and rescues of skiers, mountain-climbers and hikers, as well as inter-hospital patient transfers and frequent missions transporting newborn babies. |
| Operating times | The crew is on 24-hour standby at the base. |
| Building | The basic building has existed since 1984, in 1994 the extension was built, which was renovated in 2015. |
| Special features | The area of operation covers the cantons of St. Gallen, Thurgau and Appenzell as well as the Principality of Liechtenstein. |
| The crew's favourite food | Olma Bratwurst. |