NTSB to hold hearing on Helicopter EMS Operations

[Tincanfireman]

The NTSB will be holding a three day hearing on Helicopter EMS operations and safety. Follow the link to the NTSB website for additional information.

Washington, DC - The National Transportation Safety Board will hold a public hearing on the safety of Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS) operations. The three-day hearing will begin on February 3, 2009, at the NTSB's Board Room and Conference Center, 429 L'Enfant Plaza, S.W., Washington, D.C.

 

[WuLabsWuTecH]

I'm interested if anyone has a view on this:

Have chopper crashes and related fatalities actually increased or are they just in the news more? A few years ago (summer of 2000 or 2001) there was a lot of fear about shark attacks but it was just b/c it got a lot more coverage on TV and if you look at the stats there were about at par for what shark attacks for other years were.

 

[MSDeltaFlt]

The NTSB definitely needs to hold a hearing. As does the FAA and so on and so forth. The number of accidents have indeed increased. But so have the number of aircraft as well. HEMS is a very competitive field nationwide. Competitive to a fault in my opinion.

There is a push in some sectors to have the number of aircraft actually decrease. Now whether or not this push is gaining momentum or political backing is yet to be determined.

The future should be interesting. In the immortal words of Ted Theadore Logan, "Bill. Strange things are afoot at the Circle K".

 

[triemal04]

That's the biggest problem that I can see; the overabundance of helicopters out there. In a way it's sort of like how EMS was way back in the day when you'd have multiple services all covering the same area, all wanting the same limited number of calls, and many cutting corners to get them. That's gone away (for the most part) with ground ambulances. Maybe it's time for the same to happen with helicopters.