Rev, my friend and constant counselor. I apparently got those two locations mixed up, but Anderson (KAID) is equipped woth an AWOS-3 to the same extent as Madison, and frankly 400/2, or 2.5 would not even make me go to the aircraft to remove the rotor tiedowns.
Apparently several "community based" VFR only programs have a "consistency" problem when it comes to checking WX before departure.
I was wondering how mandating IFR certification and currency and removing Part 91 flying in EMS (except for training and maintenance check flights) would affect a certain mid west based company.
Another great step would be implementing a mandatory installation of automated WX reporting at any new "rural" HEMS base set up by one of these so called community based programs, unless another one existed within five miles.
But then, again how many of those would be able to survive economically?
The positive part about this whole disgrace, is that the crew is alive and hopefully they'll be able to come to a complete recovery.