Bell ad etc
I saw that Bell ad and immediately thought the same thing. I wonder who they are talking to? Not pilots or medical crew but hospitals with deep pockets who buy these thing with the promise from the manufacturer and the companies that possibly staff them that we can go anywhere and do anything.
As for all this talk about IFR EMS in the US. It is such a complicated situation that there will never be a set of short regs to cover the industry. For those of you who are not from here, look at a map of the US. The sheer size of the country dwafts most European countries. Understand that the US features some of the largest mountain ranges in the world, one of the largest desert regions in the world, oceans along two borders. The environmental changes in the US in a one to two hour flight can take you from a deep flat desert environment to a snow covered mountain. Why would you want to require IFR dual engine for operations in a desert area that sports clear weather 350+ days per year? I am not even talking about Alaska where you have not only artic environments but tropical rain forests!
I fly EMS in a single and twin at night with NVG's. (dual Garmins, moving map, Sat tracking, TAWS) Most of my flights with a patient on board last less than 25 minutes, many ten to fifteen. It is still a benefit to the patient because in rural areas it would take the ambulance 1-2 hours to get the patient to the same level of care.
If the weather is not conducive to taking the flight, we don't go. A wise man once told me that if you study the weather for a flight request more that five minutes, your answer is NO.
I still have not seen on this thread a conclusinve statement on what the failure rate is for any turbine engine mounted in a helicopter, whether it has two or one and further how many of these are the direct cause of an accident.
Cheers
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