KCTV
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. — The federal government is taking steps to prevent fatal medical helicopter flights as the investigation continues into Friday’s deadly crash.
The National Transportation Safety Board calls the number of medical helicopter crashes “unacceptable.” The helicopters transport 400,000 patients annually and 77 people died between 2003 and 2008. After 49 weeks without any fatalities, 22 people were killed between Sept. 2009 and August 2010.
The federal government has imposed few uniform regulations over providers, but the NTSB is looking to change that. The board said pilot training and aircraft equipment are among areas that need uniform regulations, which the NTSB said will protect patients and crew members.
Serving as a crew member on an air ambulance is considered more dangerous than coal mining.
“Not all operators are created equally for a safety perspective,” according to the NTSB.
Meeting the proposed standards could cost the industry $136 million.
Not all air ambulance providers are happy with the proposed regulations. But LifeNet, the owner of the helicopter that crashed Friday night near Mosby, is supportive.
Craig Yale, vice president for Air Methods, which is LifeNet’s parent company, said the company is working with the NTSB and FAA investigators looking to determine what caused the LifeNet helicopter to crash. A patient and three LifeNet crew members were killed.
Investigators are looking at whether the Eurocopter had run out of fuel when it crashed. The helicopter was planning to refuel in Mosby while transporting a patient from Bethany in northwest Missouri to Liberty’s hospital.
“My understanding is that our pilot asked our dispatch center to make sure that there was somebody available to provide fuel,” Yale said.
LifeNet’s helicopter seldom takes off with full tanks of gas.
“They take off in general with sufficient fuel to make the flight to pick up the patient and drop them off at the receiving facility,” Yale said. “That is one of the pieces that needs to be figured out in the investigation as to why that was not the case.”
For more information on the NTSB’s proposed rules, click here and here and here.
Reprinted with permission from KCTV.