After more than a year of consideration and negotiation, a Topeka-based air ambulance service opened a base Monday at Lawrence Municipal Airport.

The three-person Life Star helicopter crew made its first run from Lawrence about 11 a.m. Monday, when it flew to Ransom Memorial Hospital in Ottawa to transport a patient for treatment in Kansas City.

Larry Temple, a flight paramedic, is part of a three-person Life Star crew now based in Lawrence. After more than a year of consideration and negotiation, the Topeka-based air ambulance service opened a base Monday at the Lawrence Municipal Airport.

Greg Hildenbrand, Life Star’s director, said he anticipated the crew would make an average of two flights per daily 12-hour shift in Lawrence; the helicopter returns to Topeka between 9 p.m. and 9 a.m. daily.

“Of course, it never happens that way,” he said. “It will be five or six flights a day and none the next.”

Life Star is using Lawrence as a “temporary” base. The company will evaluate the benefits after about a year. But Hildenbrand said he expected the company to make the city a permanent home.

“That change that might come is that we’ll have 24 hours of coverage instead of 12,” he said.

Hildenbrand first approached the city in January 2001 about using the Lawrence airport. Life Star originally wanted to build a helicopter pad but had problems finding a good site at the airport. Hildenbrand decided to use the airport’s apron a kind of parking lot for aircraft for now to get the base running sooner.

“It’s the best short-term solution,” said Assistant City Manager Debbie Van Saun, who is the airport manager. “Basically, he’s interested in getting his operations under way.”

The new location won’t mean much to Lawrence in terms of service, Hildenbrand said. Topeka is only an eight-minute flight away, and Lawrence emergency services sometimes have had to ask Life Star to wait before arriving here.

“There will be times when that eight minutes will make a difference,” Hildenbrand said, “but it will be rare.”

He said Jefferson and Franklin counties, as well as the city of Atchison, will be among the chief medical beneficiaries of the move.

Lawrence benefits from increased air traffic federal funding to the airport is based on the number of takeoffs and landings per day. The city already gets a cut of fuel sales at the airport, which should increase with Life Star’s use.

Life Star has offices in the Stuber Research building at the airport and will use a golf cart to shuttle the flight crew and supplies between the building and the aircraft. The helicopter is plugged into an electrical outlet during downtime so the helicopter can remain warm enough that medications kept on board don’t freeze in cold weather.

The company’s offices include a lounge where the crew can rest and watch TV during downtime.

“For the most part this business is either exciting or boring,” Hildenbrand said. “That’s what we thrive on.”