An ICU patient with COVID-19 was moved to Dublin from a hospital in the southwest in a first-ever aeromedical transfer by the Air Corps.
The "airborne ICU" included a critical care doctor and a critical care paramedic from the National Ambulance Service, two Air Corps pilots, and a medically trained crew member.
The patient had to be transferred due to hospital capacity issues, RTE reports.
The helicopter departed from Baldonnel Aerodrome with the critical care team to the hospital and returned with the patient in less than two hours at the weekend.
The Air Corps has described the transfer as a "significant milestone".
Commandant Stephen Byrne said: "This was the first time we had operated with a team from MICAS and with a Covid-19 patient. It was actually forecasted several weeks ago, so we would have trained for this scenario and carried out all necessary risk assessments."
The round-trip flight took less than two hours but there were some challenges, he added.
He said that due to the size of the cabin and the altitude it was noisy with lots of vibration but he said that the patient received "a level of care comparable to a hospital ICU".
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