Life goes on....get another couple of helicopters....hire another couple of pilots.
Rescuers continued to search Tuesday for the last victim of a helicopter crash which killed at least one person when it went down in the Potomac River late Monday night south of Washington, D.C.
It was the second crash in less than a week for LifeNet/Air Methods Corp. of Englewood, Colo., which owns and operates medical choppers to transport patients, said Ellen Engleman Conners,
chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the crash. Another LifeNet helicopter crashed Jan. 5 in Faulkner, Miss., after apparently hitting some trees, she said.
That pilot was killed. Conners said this is the 11th crash of a medical flight in the past year, and 34 people have died.
"There is a significant spike (in these accidents) over this past year, and it is a significant concern," Conners said. "These
flights try to save lives; when you have a double risk, it's a concern."
For all you EMS pilots out there.....here is a really good analysis of EMS accident rates by Susan Baker of John Hopkins Center...titled "Angels of Mercy or Angels of Death". I strongly reccommend viewing her presentation....very well done.
The link is
www.dsls.usra.edu/20041026.pdf
Some startling numbers....
82% of fatal EMS crashes occur at night...
38% of EMS flights are at night....
50% of EMS crashes at night are fatal crashes...
34% of EMS fatal crashes are after dropping off the patient...and heading home
1 public use EMS aircraft crashed compared to 45 commercial aircraft (commercial pressure here you think?)