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Even though they fly in more challenging conditions, medical-helicopter pilots are not required by the FAA to be trained to fly using only their instruments. In any case, most helicopters lack the necessary technology. So when a helicopter pilot flies into a cloud and can't see out his windows, it is - by definition - an emergency. The pilot must simultaneously descend until he can see lights on the ground, toggle multiple radio frequencies to inform nearby planes and airports that he is flying blind, maintain control of a twitchy aircraft in conditions he is not trained to handle, over...
...safe to launch. He flew his bright yellow Bell 407 helicopter to the hospital, picked up the patient, and took off for Houston at 2:46 a.m. Two minutes later, Kirby was flying 600 ft. above dense forest at 122 m.p.h., near the spot where the first pilot aborted. Kirby lost radio contact with the hospital in Houston. His helicopter dropped suddenly, to 100 ft. Its rotor sliced into thick pine trees. The cabin smashed into three pieces and landed upside down, drenched in jet fuel. Kirby, the patient and two medical crew members died. (See a story about water...
When was the last time you shuffled off a commercial airliner and saw just one pilot in the cockpit? Probably never. Federal rules require two pilots for every airline flight, and all airliners must be equipped with GPS, weather-tracking and collision-avoidance systems. Airliners fly predetermined routes, usually on autopilot, and always land at airports. When the weather turns cloudy or the night turns dark, airline pilots have the training and equipment to fly using just their instruments. "You wouldn't get onto an airliner that can't fly through clouds," says Drew Ferguson, lead pilot for Metro Life...
Unlike airliners, medical helicopters are unstable aircraft that require constant input from the pilot. They often land in remote desert canyons, on freeways and in muddy farmers' fields, places without precise approach paths, powerful weather-tracking systems or even lights. "In a medical helicopter, you're basically an on-demand taxi," says Blumen, who recently completed a study of 264 medical-helicopter accidents stretching back...
Some regulators and industry leaders believe this is an oversimplification. As the FAA's Gilligan points out, a number of EMS programs that fly beefy, dual-pilot helicopters with sophisticated safety technologies have crashed, while other programs flying small, single-pilot helicopters with nothing more advanced than radio altimeters have perfect safety records. "When we introduce new technology, we want to solve the problem," Gilligan says. "But we have to be very careful not to introduce new risks...