Trending Topics

FAA puts brakes on new air ambulance safety rules

Emergency medical helicopters will have until next April to institute tougher risk analysis and in-flight monitoring procedures in challenging weather

Wall Street Journal

WASHINGTON — U.S. regulators have given helicopter operators an extra year to comply with certain enhanced safety rules, including additional training for poor visibility conditions and more-advanced monitoring of emergency medical flights from the ground.

The Federal Aviation Administration’s Thursday announcement — extending the deadline to April 2015 from later this month — comes two months after the agency issued sweeping new rules mandating tougher training standards and beefed-up equipment for the commercial helicopter industry

The move doesn’t affect deadlines for installing ground-collision avoidance systems and other technology. But the FAA said it is extending some pilot-training and operational requirements “in response to industry feedback,” and to provide it more time to issue “detailed guidance materials.”

Full story: FAA Delays Tighter Training, Safety Rules for Commercial Helicopters

WHAT TO READ NEXT
Auditors estimated that bills from LLockport ambulance services totaling $266,154 were more than 90 days past due as of Sept. 30
The Waterloo fire chief also hopes to lessen stress on his crew by buying a new front-line ambulance for Station 3
Capt. Jeffrey Scott Klein was in charge of a 2020 medical response that led to the death of a patient who was put in a prone position
“I don’t want to just throw fire engines at EMS problems. I want to throw fire engines at fire problems,” said Medford Fire Chief Thompson