Pilot Training, Night Vision, Improved Data Collection Among The Issues Addressed

ANN REALTIME UPDATE 09.01.09 1515 EDT: The NTSB Tuesday issued 19 recommendations regarding Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS).  These recommendations address various safety issues including pilot training; safety management systems to minimize risk; collection and analysis of flight, weather, and safety data; flight data monitoring; development of a low altitude airspace infrastructure; and the use of dual pilots, aatopilots, and night vision imaging systems (NVIS).

HEMS operations include an estimated 750 helicopters, 20 operators, and 60 hospital-based programs.  They transport seriously ill patients and donor organs 24 hours a day in a variety of environmental conditions.  "The pressure on HEMS operators to conduct their flights  quickly in all sorts of  environments makes these types of operations inherently more risky than other types of commercial flight operations,"  said NTSB Chairman Deborah A. P. Hersman.  "Operators need to every available safety tool to conduct these flights and to determine when the risk of flying is just too great."

For the HEMS industry, 2008 was the deadliest year on record with 12 accidents and 29 fatalities.  In response to this increase in fatal accidents, the NTSB placed the issue of HEMS operations on its Most Wanted List of Transportation Safety Improvements.  

Last February, the NTSB conducted a 4-day public hearing to critically examine the safety issues concerning this industry. The hearing, which included testimony by expert witnesses representing HEMS operators, associations, manufactures, and hospitals, explored the increasingly competitive environment of the HEMS industry and provided a more complete understanding of why this industry has grown rapidly in recent years. As a result of recent accident investigations and testimony presented at the hearing, the NTSB made recommendations to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) at the Department of Health and Human Services, Federal Interagency Committee on Emergency Medical Systems (FICEMS) and 40 government-operated or public HEMS operators.

The 19 recommendations issued today include 10 recommendations to the FAA to address the issues of improved pilot training; collection and analysis of flight, weather, and safety data; flight data monitoring; development of low altitude airspace in infrastructure; and the use of dual pilots, autopilots, and NVIS.

The two safety recommendations to the CMS are to evaluate the current HEMS reimbursement rate structure and its relationship to patient transport safety.  Two recommendations are to FICEMS to address coordination and integration of helicopter emergency medical transport into local and regional emergency medical systems and selection of the most appropriate emergency transportation mode for victims of trauma.

Finally, five recommendations are to public operators to improve pilot training, flight data monitoring; and the use of dual pilots, autopilots and NVIS.

Original Report

1230 EDT The NTSB is expected to release recommendations for changes in equipment and procedures Tuesday in an effort to improve safety for medical helicopter operations.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the recommendations will likely include additional training for pilots of at least some medical helicopters, as well as expanding the use of dedicated airways and improved flight data collection.  Weather forecasting is also expected to be among the factor cited as needing improvement in the report.

The Board is also expected to once again call for more use of night vision goggles by medical helicopter pilots.

The flight data recording provision may prove particularly problematic because of the rotary wing environment. The paper reports The Flight Safety Foundation announced Monday it would partner with several manufacturers for testing of equipment that could operate effectively on helicopters, and while flight data recorders are offered as a factory option on some aircraft, but the challenge is to make them rugged and inexpensive enough to encourage wide adoption of the devices as retrofits.

Medical Helicopter File Photo

Tuesday's expected announcement comes 7 months after the NTSB highlighted the high fatality rate in medical helicopter accidents. In 2008, 12 fatal accidents were responsible for 29 deaths.

FMI: www.ntsb.gov