The Associated Press
HOUSTON — Medical helicopter crashes that have killed 28 people so far this year and made 2008 the deadliest on record for such accidents mostly occurred in flying conditions long known by the government to be dangerous, a newspaper reported Sunday.
Yet the risky air ambulance takeoffs continue without better evaluation measures or stricter flight rules supported for years by federal investigators, the Houston Chronicle found.
Bad weather and night flights were common factors in the 65 fatal crashes investigated by the National Transportation and Safety Board since 1989, according to the newspaper.
Two of the deadly crashes that happened this year killed seven people in Texas. The two flights were at night, and both pilots faced reduced visibility.
In October, the NTSB called Federal Aviation Administration progress on recommendations for tougher flight protocols and safety measures “unacceptable” and placed air ambulance safety on its priority list.
The FAA, which has regulatory power over the air ambulance industry, supports the enhanced safety recommendations but has yet to require them.
“Rulemaking is often, literally, a yearslong process,” said Les Dorr, an FAA spokesman. “We have a long history of working with the industry to help them voluntarily improve safety and remain committed to getting these things into the cockpit as quickly as possible.”
In February, three people aboard a medical helicopter on a flight from Harlingen to South Padre Island died after meeting strong winds and crashing into a bay. Four others in June died in a Huntsville crash that happened less than two hours after a different crew aborted the same mission because of low clouds.
Air ambulances have been credited with saving countless lives. Yet, each time the decision to dispatch one is made, operators face the critical task of balancing the welfare of the patient with the safety of the pilot and medical personnel.
Those pressures have been ratcheted up by the explosion of operators available to fly for any given call. The air ambulance ranks have swelled from some 100 nationally in the 1980s to more than 900, operated by hospitals and independent companies, industry groups say.
“There is a pressure for things to happen quickly when people are dying,” said Gary Sizemore, a Florida-based pilot and spokesman for the National EMS Pilots Association. “But there also is a competitive pressure with the greater number of (helicopters) out there.”
A June 2006 report by the NTSB found that dozens of lives could have been saved under tighter restrictions.
Next year, the NTSB plans to gather data on ambulance crashes and fatality rates in comparison to EMS helicopters.
“People are dying,” board member Debbie Hersman said during the meeting. “Some of these recommendations, if implemented, could have prevented these fatalities. So, there needs to be a sense of urgency and I just don’t see it here.”