NTSB -- SAFETY BOARD ISSUES ADDITONAL RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE HELICOPTER EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES INDUSTRY

************************************************************

NTSB PRESS RELEASE

************************************************************

National Transportation Safety Board

Washington, DC 20594

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 1, 2009

SB-09-47

************************************************************

SAFETY BOARD ISSUES ADDITONAL RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE

HELICOPTER EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES INDUSTRY

************************************************************

The National Transportation Safety Board today issued 19

recommendations regarding Helicopter Emergency Medical

Services (HEMS). These recommendations address various

safety issues including pilot training; safety management

systems to minimize risk; collection and analysis of flight,

weather, and safety data; flight data monitoring;

development of a low altitude airspace infrastructure; and

the use of dual pilots, autopilots, and night vision imaging

systems (NVIS).

HEMS operations include an estimated 750 helicopters, 20

operators, and 60 hospital-based programs. They transport

seriously ill patients and donor organs 24 hours a day in a

variety of environmental conditions. "The pressure on HEMS

operators to conduct their flights quickly in all sorts of

environments makes these types of operations inherently more

risky than other types of commercial flight operations,"

said NTSB Chairman Deborah A. P. Hersman. "Operators need

to every available safety tool to conduct these flights and

to determine when the risk of flying is just too great."For

the HEMS industry, 2008 was the deadliest year on record

with 12 accidents and 29 fatalities. In response to this

increase in fatal accidents, the NTSB placed the issue of

HEMS operations on its Most Wanted List of Transportation

Safety Improvements.

Last February, the NTSB conducted a 4-day public hearing to

critically examine the safety issues concerning this

industry. The hearing, which included testimony by expert

witnesses representing HEMS operators, associations,

manufactures, and hospitals, explored the increasingly

competitive environment of the HEMS industry and provided a

more complete understanding of why this industry has grown

rapidly in recent years. As a result of recent accident

investigations and testimony presented at the hearing, the

NTSB made recommendations to the Federal Aviation

Administration (FAA), the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid

Services (CMS) at the Department of Health and Human

Services, Federal Interagency Committee on Emergency medical

Systems (FICEMS) and 40 government-operated or public HEMS

operators.

The 19 recommendations issued today include 10

recommendations to the FAA to address the issues of improved

pilot training; collection and analysis of flight, weather,

and safety data; flight data monitoring; development of low

altitude airspace in infrastructure; and the use of dual

pilots, autopilots, and NVIS.

The two safety recommendations to the CMS are to evaluate

the current HEMS reimbursement rate structure and its

relationship to patient transport safety. Two

recommendations are to FICEMS to address coordination and

integration of helicopter emergency medical transport into

local and regional emergency medical systems and selection

of the most appropriate emergency transportation mode for

victims of trauma.

Finally, five recommendations are to public operators to

improve pilot training, flight data monitoring; and the use

of dual pilots, autopilots and NVIS.

In addition to the recommendations issued today, the Board

also asked its staff to draft additional recommendations to

CMS regarding safety audit standards.

An abstract of today's Board actions can be found at

http://ntsb.gov/Publictn/2009/AB09-HEMS.htm.

-30-

Media Contact: Keith Holloway, 202-314-6100

hollow@xxxxxxxx

************************************************************

This message is delivered to you as a free service from the

National Transportation Safety Board.

You may unsubscribe at any time at

http://www.ntsb.gov/registration/registration.htm

An archive of press releases is available at

http://www.ntsb.gov/pressrel/pressrel.htm

Current job opportunities with the NTSB are listed at

http://www.ntsb.gov/vacancies/listing.htm

For questions/problems, contact pubinq@xxxxxxxx