HEADLINE - Yorkshire Air Ambulance's new helicopter has taken to the skies.

The state-of- the-art Airbus H145 helicopter was scrambled to incidents across Yorkshire over the weekend.

It is the first of two new helicopters to replace two choppers used by Yorkshire Air Ambulance.

The Airbus H145 model is used by military, police and air rescue services around the world.

Because it is able to fly at night, it will be available for longer periods of cover than the older helicopters it is replacing, which are not equipped for night time flying.

Yorkshire Air Ambulance, which is an independent charity, costs £12.000 a day - £4.4 million a year - to run.

Its two helicopters fly from Nostell Priory, near Wakefield, 365 days a year.

They attend around 1,000 missions a year.