Medical Helicopter Crashes: Turning Injuries into Fatalities

John Demas

Attorney
(866) 735-1102 Ext 575

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Although the sounds of the circulating blades of an approaching medical helicopter are of great comfort to someone who’s been seriously injured, more and more of these flying machines are coming under greater scrutiny due to their increasing number of crashes. In February of 2009, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) held hearings for four days looking into this growing national problem.

During those hearings, the NTSB stated it had recently reviewed a specific twelve- month period when “nine fatal medical helicopter accidents . . .killed 35 people.” The NTSB went on to note that between January 2002 and January 2005, there were fifty-five deaths and eighteen serious injuries that could have been prevented if these helicopters had observed higher standards.

Numbers like these clearly indicate that there’s a need for new guidelines to govern when these helicopters may go out on rescue missions. Furthermore, they should also remind every injured citizen that he or she should have the right to choose emergency ground transportation instead. We’re not only losing or impairing the valuable lives of our everyday citizens, we’re also risking the lives of the highly trained professionals who fly these helicopters and stand ready to administer medical care aboard
them.

In light of the recent NTSB hearing testimony, both private and government-run medical facilities need to re-think a variety of factors before putting pilots, on-board medical personnel and all injured persons at further risk.

By carefully revising guidelines concerning each of the following factors, hopefully our government can start immediately decreasing all medical helicopter accidents.

• Strict logs should be kept noting the exact weather conditions existing at the proposed helicopter launching site – as well as those prevailing where the injured party is waiting. If both sets of weather conditions do not meet pre-set minimum standards, then emergency ground transportation should be sent as opposed to a medical helicopter.

• Only the most experienced helicopter pilots should be allowed to fly on these missions. They must meet a stringent, minimum number of flying hours before handling this critical service.

• When transport organs need to be flown to a waiting recipient and the weather conditions are very poor, that party may have to consider another donor organ from a different medical facility. Alternatively, perhaps a hospital employee could fly on a major airline with the organ, if it appears that the larger aircraft might be able to provide a more stable flight during sub-standard weather.

• Pilots must routinely submit to random alcohol and drug tests . Furthermore, they should not be allowed to fly for an excessive number of hours without rest. Fines should be imposed on all employers who try to force pilots to fly their medical helicopters for unreasonably long hours.

• Certain serious but non-critical injuries may need to be routinely handled by emergency ground transportation

• Strict medical helicopter maintenance records must be kept and subject to regular government review. Hospitals and other medical facilities should only be allowed to contract out their medical helicopter needs with companies that have already met stringent government standards.

Hopefully, if these and other factors are carefully considered, we will start to see an immediate decrease in the number of injuries being turned into fatalities by wayward medical helicopters. Both the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) need to work closely together to create proper standards for these critical flights. They should also offer to regularly consult with state and local governments that need help with drafting supplemental guidelines.