Travis County STAR Flight

As an agency of the Travis County government, STAR Flight conducts air ambulance, technical rescue, firefighting, and law enforcement support missions.

STAR Flight originated primarily to conduct air medical transport, which still makes up the majority of missions today.

[2] In 1998, Travis County began an experimental program to use STAR Flight's smaller aircraft, the 206, for law enforcement support missions.

This was largely in response to the 2011 wildfire in Bastrop, during which STAR Flight conducted extensive fire suppression efforts utilizing EC145s and Bambi Buckets.

[11] On the evening of April 27, 2015, STAR Flight was conducting a hoist rescue of an injured hiker in the Barton Creek Greenbelt.

Kristin Elizabeth McClain, the flight nurse and rescuer on the mission, was being lifted to the aircraft with the patient when she fell from the hoist.

[12] The final report by the National Transportation Safety Board concluded that there had been no equipment failures, and that the McClain was not properly fastened to the hoist.