Vaibronco,
Your post seems to imply that all the wise things you suggest do not happen here.Setting minima,understanding and teaching pilots the dangers of IIMC,recurrent training. All EMS companies that are worth their salt do all of the above and sometimes more.So to suggest otherwise is offensive to some of us.Fact remains, that for every one (and that is one too many,admittedly) that makes the news, there are thousands of HEMS flights that operate routinely and safely on a single day. In fact ,I would wager, my company flies more every year than all the outfits in the the continent of Europe,put together.Besides, have you looked at a map recently and seen the size of this country? I can tell you, my friend, mine is definitely bigger than yours. So the attitude of your captains whom you so admire are not only restricted to your side of the pond.
To the rest, the last three crashes (Oklahoma, Arizona and now Arkansas),seem to be aircraft related as opposed to pilot issues. So notwithstanding the "witnesses" who saw the aircraft "fly through a fog"--I shall reserve judgement.After all, 500+ "witnesses" "saw" the missile that brought down TWA 800.
And, I have said this before, as long as Europe and Canada and Oz have government funded HEMS outfits, comparing that to the ones in the US is futile.
Alt3.