Medical Helicopter Down

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On Fri, Mar 26, 2010 at 1:16 PM, Bjorn, Pret <pbjorn at emh.org> wrote:

> We're flirting with the limits of my aeromedical expertise here; but I'm
> doubtful that any of these factors are both a) independent root causes
> of HEMS crashes and b) unsolvable by other or better means and practices
> (instrumentation, night vision equipment, crew in the left seat
> outbound, etc.).
>

Despite the fact that work overload (which leads situations that result in
errors such as CFIT, inadvertent descent, etc) and poor decision-making en
route (failure to divert or abort the mission) are pretty common factors in
these crashes?  Pret, I respect you but I think you're missing the benefit
of having a second pilot.  It's far better than putting a non-pilot rated
paramedic or nurse "in the left seat outbound".   There is a reason why most
first-world nations require or strongly encourage commercial helicopter
operations hauling passengers to have two pilots on board.   It is also the
reason why countries with far more aggressive use of HEMS (Norway and
Germany come to mind) have fatal crash rates that make ours the most pitiful
in the world.


>
> I'm also no expert on our own HEMS service here in Maine; but I have my
> doubts that LifeFlight -- one of the safest and most celebrated services
> in the industry -- could financially withstand such a mandate.
>

> I somehow doubt you'd be at all surprised when your proposed solution
> effectively shuts down the industry.
>
>
Not at all surprising, but then again, it really isn't worth the cost we're
paying now in terms of lives lost.  The easier solution is to switch to
fixed-wing which have a much better safety margin and can be much more
safely operated single pilot in IFR conditions .   Of course those HEMS
operators already running the BK-117 and similar twin engine varieties would
not be effected that much by a dual pilot standard.


-- 
Stephen Richey, CRT

"A man's moral worth is established only at the point where he is ready to
give up his life in defense of his convictions."- Henning von Tresckow

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