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Mon Mar 2 17:35:58 GMT 2009

On Mon, Mar 2, 2009 at 11:59 AM, Connie Potter
<Connie at traumafoundation.org>wrote:

> General aviation.  The source is the FAA and compares Airmedical with
> General Aviation.

Care to give a more specific citation?  I am intimately familiar with
aviation crash data and what you just stated is completely out of line from
everything I have ever read seen.  Not even military training, test flying
or aerobatics have crash rates akin to what you are suggesting.  Not only
does the data not sync up, but you don't compare apples to oranges and you
don't compare Part 91 (general aviation) with Part 135 operations (which is
what patient transport flights and most non-patient transport flights of
fixed wing aircraft fall under).

>
>  I really don't think the FAA cherry picked data for any special
> purpose.  They have been concerned about airmedical crashes for some
> time according to my sources.

Yes, they have been.  But the focus has been on helicopters because that is
where most of the crashes have occurred.

Actually, the crash ratio for airmedical fixed wing is 14x that of civilian
> aviation.
>

 Here's what the NTSB has to say about accident rates:
Type of Flight  Fatalities per million flight hours  Airliner (Scheduled and
nonscheduled Part 121) 4.03  Commuter Airline (Scheduled Part 135)
10.74  Commuter
Plane (Nonscheduled Part 135 - Air taxi on demand) 12.24  General Aviation
(Private Part 91) 22.43SOURCE: http://www.planecrashinfo.com/cause.htm based
on 1998-2007 NTSB data

Now if fixed wing aeromedical had a crash rate fourteen times that of Part
91, that would make the case fatality rate something on the order of 314
fatalities per million flight hours and THAT would catch the attention of
the FAA even given how slow they are to respond to issues.

To give you some scale, the AAMS says there are about 150,000 fixed wing
patient transports in the US annually.  For the sake of argument, let us
assume an average of 4 hours flight time associated with each patient (round
trip).  Now, if that were the case and your accident statistic was even
close to correct, we would be losing about 188 people per year in fixed wing
aeromedical crashes. Even assuming the flight hours were significantly less,
the numbers still do not support your contention.

Even if you look at non-fatal accidents and incidents in the NTSB database
for Part 135 (all-inclusive fixed wing) vs Part 91 (fixed wing only) between
1/1/2004 and 12/31/2008:
*No injuries/No serious damage ("Incidents")   Part 135-    19 events
           Part 91- 94 events
Non-fatal injuries                                 Part 135- 182 events
               Part 91- 5282 events
*

....the numbers still don't bear out what you are trying to cite.  In fact,
the reverse of what you are claiming seems to be exactly the opposite of
what is supported by the evidence readily available.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Stephen Richey [mailto:stephen.richey at gmail.com]
> Sent: Thursday, February 26, 2009 9:23 AM
> To: Trauma &amp, Critical Care mailing list
> Subject: Re: NTSB to Issue Helicopter EMS Safety Recommendations
>
> Care to cite the source of that statistic?  I am pretty familiar with
> aviation statistics (since it is basically what I do for my research)
> and I
> think that one would have jumped up and gotten my attention by now.  Are
> you
> comparing them to Part 121 operations (scheduled airline flights), Part
> 91
> (general aviation), Part 135 (all non-scheduled charter and commercial
> operations including most cargo flights) or something else? The only way
> I
> can see that number being valid is if you are comparing fixed-wing
> aeromedical and commercial airline flights (which are two completely
> different types of flying with different regulations and standards) or
> if
> the source of your data cherry-picked the data.
>
> On Thu, Feb 26, 2009 at 11:11 AM, Connie Potter
> <Connie at traumafoundation.org
> > wrote:
>
> > Actually, the crash ratio for airmedical fixed wing is 14x that of
> > civilian aviation.
> >
> > Connie Potter, RN, MBA
> > President
> > National Foundation for Trauma Care
> > 650 Montana Ave. Suite A
> > Las Cruces, NM 88001
> > Phone: (575) 525-9511
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> >
> > Mark your calendar for NFTC Annual Conference 11/12 to 15/2009  San
> > Diego, CA
> >
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> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: p.bjorn at netzero.net [mailto:p.bjorn at netzero.net]
> > Sent: Wednesday, February 25, 2009 10:01 AM
> > To: trauma-list at trauma.org
> > Subject: RE: NTSB to Issue Helicopter EMS Safety Recommendations
> >
> > This is interesting, although I think your experience is weighted with
> > proximity.  There's little doubt that fixed wing is far safer than
> > rotors in general (for a whole host of reasons, not the least of which
> > is that planes are beholden to runways, and thus variously exposed to
> a
> > variety of other helpful conditions and rules).
> >
> > Begs the question: how useful ARE fixed wing services in EMS?  Even in
> > my experience (rural Maine), the circumstances which at once suggest
> and
> > tolerate airplane transfer during the primary treatment phase are
> > exceedingly rare.  You're adding at least two vehicles and maybe three
> > teams to the transfer process.  That consumes time and shatters
> > continuity.
> >
> > Pret
> >
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> >
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>
>
> --
> Stephen L. Richey, CRT
>
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-- 
Stephen L. Richey, CRT

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