The company that operated the police helicopter involved in the fatal Clutha crash is the largest operator of air ambulance aircraft in the UK.
Bond Air Services operates a fleet of more than 40 helicopters from 23 bases around the country, including Aberdeen, Blackpool and Humberside.
As well as ambulance services, the Babcock International Group company provides search-and-rescue services and support to other organisations ranging from police forces to lighthouse authorities.
In June it unveiled two new H145 helicopters to be operated for the Scottish Ambulance Service based in Glasgow and Inverness.
It also operates a third H145 aircraft for the East Anglian Air Ambulance (EAAA).
Among the employees of Bond Air Services is the Duke of Cambridge, who pilots missions for EAAA and donates his salary to charity.
The helicopter operator offered compensation to the families of Clutha victims last year but lawyers described it as ''inadequate''.
Days after the fatal crash, Bond Air Services temporarily suspended flights of all 22 of its EC 135s, the same model which crashed in Glasgow, after a fuel gauge fault was discovered on an air ambulance in the North West of England.
The suspension affected air ambulance and police helicopters across the UK and helicopter manufacturer Eurocopter later issued a worldwide safety alert.
In May the previous year, Bond suspended flights of the same model after discovery of a fault in an air ambulance in Scotland.
A crack was discovered on the main rotor hub, prompting a safety warning by the European Aviation Safety Agency.
That same month sister group Bond Offshore Helicopters said it was suspending EC225 Super Puma helicopter flights for safety reasons after one of the aircraft ditched in the North Sea with 14 people on board. There were no fatalities.
In 2002, Captain Anthony Taylor, 53 was killed after his aircraft crashed into the sea off Orkney when the cargo collided with a rotor blade.
The crash might have been avoided, sheriff Colin Scott Mackenzie said, had the pilot known the accurate weight of the cargo his Bond operated-helicopter was carrying.
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