Word: weatherings
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...Even flying with two pilots, workload can be an issue," Pietro says before the flight. "If you're flying single-pilot in bad weather and you're trying to land on a highway, it gets real scary. There's just not enough hands to do all the work...
...seen a Bell 206. It's popular because it is a lightweight craft that's relatively inexpensive to fix and fuel. But many versions of the 206 don't have the space or the engine power to carry the safety equipment needed to fly at night or in bad weather. Flying an underpowered helicopter blind in foul weather is a common cause of fatal crashes, safety experts say. "There's nothing wrong with the Bell 206, but you have to recognize it's a small aircraft," says Vernon Albert, who founded 34 EMS flight programs, 15% of the nation...
...years, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has pushed the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to impose tougher regulations on the medical helicopter industry. In 2008 the board placed rules requiring terrain awareness technology, flight and weather tracking systems, and stricter weather minimums at the top of its "most wanted" list of changes to reduce fatalities. The board first recommended these changes three years ago. Had the FAA implemented them, 29 of the last 55 accidents could have been prevented, says NTSB vice chairman Robert Sumwalt. "We want to pressure the FAA to make changes so that these crashes stop occurring...
...January, the FAA agreed to make one of the changes, requiring helicopters to fly under the same weather rules whether or not a patient is on board. Other changes are being studied but will come slowly; the agency just released its first, voluntary guidelines regarding terrain awareness systems in December. "We don't feel that the FAA is moving fast enough," Sumwalt says...
...company is spending $30 million to upgrade most of its helicopters with night vision goggles, terrain awareness systems, and technologies that track flight progress and weather. Air Methods will spend another $30 million training its pilots to use the new systems, plus $1 million a year to equip and staff an operational control center that monitors all flights. "We're going above and beyond what the rules require," Foster says...