Helicopters In Trouble

There are at least a dozen news articles today discussing the issue of helicopter safety, many of them responding to the AP article that references the 9 medical crashes in the eleven months.

Part of the problem is a shortage of night vision (infrared “synthetic vision”) that displays terrain of the type the military uses.

The article also lists recommendations of the NTSB, which may or may not be adopted by the FAA. The recommendations are as follows:

• Require EMS helicopter operators to install Terrain Awareness Warning Systems (TAWS) on helicopters. The system warns pilots when helicopters are in danger of crashing into the ground, mountains and some buildings.
  
• Require EMS flights that carry only medical personnel to follow the more stringent safety rules that apply to flights carrying patients and organs for donation.
  
• Require a formal flight risk evaluation before an EMS flight.
  
• Require EMS flights to use formalized dispatch procedures that include up-to-date weather information and assistance in flight risk-assessment decisions.
  

One hopes that through this 20-20 hindsight the FAA will have better vision.

There are issues going on with the FAA. "A federal logjam has held up the report on the Oct. 15 crash." There have been a lot of crashes lately and the paperwork must be piling up.

And then there is this: "Shelley Garrett, guardian over Dave Garrett’s only son and heir, filed a product-liability and negligence lawsuit late last week against Bell Helicopter in Harris County District Court" over the channel 13 helicopter crash. While not a medical evacuation crash, it is still helicopter crash news. Are the NTSB and FAA qualified to supervise helicopter safety issues?