Seems like an accident waiting to happen. Does the FAA perform any oversight of HEMS operators? This accident comes down to this:
1. The information that 2 previous operators declined this flight was never passed to the accident operator/pilots.
2. Unacceptable behavior:
“When the accident pilot arrived at Base 14, she proceeded directly to the already-started helicopter and departed.”
“There was no record of the accident pilot receiving a weather briefing or 2 accessing any imagery on the weather application (Foreflight).”
“Additionally, neither pilot completed a preflight risk assessment for the flight, as required by Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 135.617, and the evening shift pilot stated he expected the accident pilot to complete the assessment after she returned.” My italics.