Medivac Safety Rules Under Review
To save lives, medivac pilots routinely take risks, report CBS News correspondent Mark Strassmann. That includes flying at night, in bad weather and over unfamiliar terrain.
Gayla Gregory was one of three crew members killed when a medivac night flight crashed in Scotland, Ark., two months ago.
"Any time you fly there is a danger that you are going to crash," her brother Robert Gregory said. "It crossed her mind that this could happen any time."
Just this summer, there have been four deadly air ambulance crashes nationwide.
According to Gary Robb, "We're sending these pilots out on these dangerous missions without the necessary safety equipment to accomplish what we want them to do."
On Thursday the Federal Aviation Administration proposed mandatory safety upgrades, including:
- Stricter weather limitations for flying
- A mandatory pre-flight evaluation: are the risks too great?
- Periodic safety re-training
- Installation of an onboard system that tracks the terrain below
Read More About the FAA's Proposed Rules
But right now, these systems are installed in only about 40 percent of America's medivacs.
There are 400,000 medivac flights a year, and the vast majority of then end safely. But even some operators say these new recommended safety regulations don't go far enough.
In the Dallas-Ft. Worth area, Care-Flite transported 38,000 patients last year. Company CEO Jim Swartz wants the FAA to demand medivac pilots to be flight instrument certified -- like professional airline pilots.
"The helicopter EMS industry nationwide has not been as safe as we believe it should have been," Swartz said.
The goal of these new safety regulations?
A life-saving flight. For the patient -- and everyone aboard.
