FAA to
Collect Operating Data from Air Ambulance Services
The FAA
Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 included a mandate to do this, with the
first report to be provided to Congress by Feb. 14, 2014.
The Federal
Aviation Administration has published a notice about a new information
collection it is starting. Complying with the FAA Modernization and Reform Act
of 2012, FAA will collect operational data from 73 helicopter air ambulance
certificate holders and will begin providing annual summary reports to Congress
early next year. The first is due by Feb. 14, 2014.
The law requires all
helicopter air ambulance operators to begin reporting the number of flights and
hours flown, along with other specified information, during which helicopters
they operate were providing air ambulance services. "The helicopter air
ambulance operational data provided to the FAA will be used by the agency as
background information useful in the development of risk mitigation strategies
to reduce the currently unacceptably high helicopter air ambulance accident
rate, and to meet the mandates set by Congress," FAA states in the notice
published July 31.
Data will be collected quarterly.
The National
Transportation Safety Board issued a report in 2011 that listed 55 EMS aircraft
accidents -- some involved fixed-wing aircraft - occurred in the United States
between January 2002 and January 2005, resulting in 54 deaths and 18 serious
injuries. The HEMS average accident rate rose during from 3.53 to 4.56 per
100,000 flight hours during that period, NTSB reported.
However,
helicopter EMS organizations assert the industry's fatal accident rate has been
steadily declining during the past three decades, Flying magazine Senior Editor
Stephen Pope reported July 26. |
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