Originally Posted by
air pig
20 crew fatalities in one corporation in 18 years.
Have a mate or two (former army aviators) that flew with Mercy Air two decades ago, in southern California...I was led to believe their safety record was not brilliant with loss of a few a/c over the years. I have a friend who graduated from Mother Rucker in the 70s, and he flew for one of the EMS operators over 2 decades ago and swore never to fly HEMS again due to a disagreement with the doctors and flight nurse. He simply refused to fly a patient transfer in dead of night crap weather conditions and as pilot in command, he took the safety mantra and said no firmly (even the patient did not particularly want to be transferred by air, they be happy with ground transportation). The medics complained to the operator and he was miffed that they did not stand behind him on his decision.
The problem is, unlike our air ambulance model is that over there its a case of if the a/c is on the helipad not doing anything and waiting for responding to an emergency, it is not earning money.
cheers