The National Transportation Safety Board on Tuesday began a four-day hearing in Washington D.C. to address the rise in medical helicopter crashes.

 

The number of fatalities resulted from crashes of medical helicopters reached a record last year. To be more specific, between December 2007 and October 2008, 35 people, including six patients, died in nine crashes. There were only seven deaths in 2007, according to Robert Sumwalt, chairman of the NTSB hearing’s board of inquiry.

 

“The number of EMS (emergency medical services) accidents has risen dramatically and the Safety Board feels that some of these accidents could have been avoided if our recommendations had been followed,” Mr. Sumwalt added.

 

In January 2006, the Safety Board made four recommendations, which, if implemented by the Federal Aviation Administration, would have limited the number of fatalities. The recommendations were drafted following 55 accidents and 54 fatalities occurred between January 2002 and January 2005. They required the development of flight risk evaluation programs, the use of dispatch and flight procedures that include up-to-date weather information, the installment of "terrain awareness and warning systems" on aircrafts. A fourth recommendation asked medical flight operators to follow federal regulations regarding their flights.

 

During the four-day hearing, the Safety Board will hear presentations from industry experts and question more than 40 witnesses, including pilots, private medical helicopter operators and Federal Aviation Administration officials. The agency hopes their answers will give a clue on what is leading to so many accidents in the air and will help them make further recommendations to the Federal Aviation Administration, which regulates the flight safety of medical helicopters.

 

“This hearing will be extremely important because it can provide an opportunity to learn more about the industry so that possibly we can make further recommendations that can prevent these accidents and save lives,” Mr. Sumwalt said.

 

At the same time, the Safety Board believes that the Federal Aviation Administration is slow on taking measures, which could lead to a safer air transportation of patients. Mr. Sumwalt said, “the F.A.A. might be making some efforts, but the efforts that are being done are not getting us to where we want to be.”

 

Matthew Zuccaro, president of Helicopter Association International, said more rules need to be taken in order to improve the safety of patients. He added that helicopters operators must pay more attention to flight planning, adverse weather hazards and ways to furnish the existing fleet with advanced safety equipment.

 

To prove that these requirements have a positive impact on patients’ safety, Sylvain Seguin, vice president of Canadian Helicopters, testified that Canada has had a single fatality since the 1970s. The United States has had at least 180 people killed or injured over the last ten years only. Having two-pilot crews and helicopters equipped with the latest safety devices might explain the safety of Canadian’s medical helicopters, Mr. Seguin said.

 

The NTSB hearing will continue today with testimonies from Honeywell International Inc., the Mayo Clinic, Bell Helicopter Textron Inc. and the FAA.