In 1985, STAR Flight (commonly known as Travis County STAR Flight) began operating as a joint venture program of Travis County, the City of Austin and the Brackenridge Hospital. Having started simple with a Bell 206 Jet Ranger and later a Bell 206L3 Long Ranger, it received larger and more complex Bell 412EP's as from 1990. Those were eventually replaced by EC135 and EC145 helicopters and in 2019, Travis County STAR Flight became the first ambulance service AW169 opertor in the US, introducing three units (N307TC, N308TC and N309TC).