Mon, Nov 10, 2008
Three-Day Meeting Coming In February 2009
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 in Washington, DC.
The NTSB stresses that helicopter EMS operations provide an
important service to the public by transporting seriously ill
patients or donor organs to emergency care facilities. However, the
pressure to safely and quickly conduct these operations in various
environmental conditions (for example, inclement weather, at night,
and unfamiliar landing sites for helicopter operations) has the
potential to make HEMS operations more at risk than normal
passenger carrying operations.
"We have seen an alarming rise in the numbers of EMS accidents
and the Safety Board believes some of these accidents could have
been prevented if our recommendations were implemented," said
Member Robert Sumwalt, Chairman of the Hearing. "This hearing
will be extremely important because it can provide an opportunity
to learn more about the industry so that possibly we can make
further recommendations that can prevent these accidents and save
lives."
The NTSB last issued a Special Investigation Report on EMS
Operations in January 2006. The report involved the analysis of all
EMS-related aviation accidents that occurred from January 2002
through January 2005. There were a total of 55 accidents that
occurred during this 3-year window; 41 helicopters and 14
airplanes. These accidents killed 54 people, and seriously injured
19. Analysis of the accidents indicated that 29 of 55 accidents
could have been prevented with corrective actions identified in the
report.
However, over the past 11 months the Safety Board has
investigated nine fatal EMS Accidents with a total of 35
fatalities. In 2008 alone there have been 7 fatal accidents with 28
fatalities. This is a drastic increase in accidents since the
Special Investigation Report and therefore has prompted the Safety
Board to examine this issue in greater detail by holding this
hearing.
There will be witnesses from all EMS communities including
pilots, medical personnel, managers, and FAA.
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