Owner Says He Hopes To Restore Flights By Weekend

In the wake of a fatal accident earlier this month, the Federal Aviation Administration has asked Hawaii Air Ambulance to keep its medical transport planes on the ground until inspections of its maintenance records and operations have been completed, company president and CEO Andrew Kluger said Wednesday.

Hawaii Air Ambulance halted operations after the March 8 accident, in which three crew members were lost after one of the company's Cessna 414 Chancellors (file photo of type, below right) went down on approach to land at Kaluhui Airport. The company has been conducting its own inspection, Kluger said, in addition to the FAA probe.

As Aero-News reported earlier this month, the accident was the second fatal mishap for the company in just over two years -- which "raised a red flag," said FAA spokesman Mike Fergus.

Fergus told the Honolulu Advertiser the agency is checking the company's records... but that the FAA has not told the air ambulance operator that it couldn't fly.

"They have not been told by us that they cannot operate," Fergus said. Were the company to begin flying again, however, Fergus said "we're going to wonder why, after you thought you had to ground yourself, why are you doing it now."

The FAA's inspection has uncovered "issues and concerns," Fergus said, although he wouldn't say what those matters involved except to say the issues were with "operations and administrative matters."

Kluger told the Advertiser the only issue he was aware of concerned the company's use of someone other than pilots to handle flight planning, and that the company is considering the FAA's suggested resolution.

While two fatal accidents in the past two years is "terribly, terribly tragic," Kluger said it should be weighed against the more than 37,000 medical missions the company has conducted in the past 27 years. The company employs about 60 pilots, physicians, flight nurses, and support personnel, and has a fleet of three Cessna twins.

In Hawaii Air Ambulance's absence, the US Coast Guard has been flying patients from neighboring islands to Oahu, under an agreement with the state Department of Health. So far, that arrangement hasn't stretched the agency's resources too thin... although all parties are eager to see a private entity resume the flights.

The Health Department is not seeking another private provider of aeromedical services, said Dr. Linda Rosen, deputy director of the state Department of Health and acting chief of the Emergency Medical Services Branch. Several companies have expressed interest in taking over the contract.

"We're just trying to meet the need right now and are hoping Hawaii Air Ambulance will be flying soon," Rosen said.

Meanwhile, Fergus said the FAA will continue its look into the company's records -- and should that turn up something suspect, the agency will launch a more detailed investigation.

"We don't have suspicions about any one thing. We just want to get ahead of it and increase our vigilance," he said.

FMI: Read The NTSB Preliminary Report