Jan 08 2019

Are we considered acceptable loss? Posted 5 years 349 days ago ago by Randy Mains

Dan Foulds, owner and lead instructor at AMRM Training Solutions and a board member with the National EMS Pilot’s Association posted a valid question on Facebook.  His observation came following the tragic air medical accident in Wisconsin on the 26th of April where 3 people lost their lives in a tour helicopter.  Here’s what he said, 

"A Liberty Tours helicopter crashes into the East River in New York city killing passengers and Senator Charles Schumer angrily demands that the FAA revoke the company's operating certificate; citing "three crashes." The FAA steps in and takes rapid action. 

Southwest Airlines experiences a disintegrating engine failure and the first US airline fatality in TEN years occurs, and it is earth-shaking news and SWA's stock plummets. Ticket sales are forecast to drop sharply. Regulators are swarming.

Yet the HEMS industry crashes helicopters over and over again and no one takes any significant notice. There is no outrage. There is no call for action. People mourn, hold memorial services, bury their dead, and then we all shrug our shoulders and go back to business as usual. "You know, it's the pilot's fault after all." 

At some point, we have to stop pointing fingers at pilots and crews and examine the paradigm. It is obviously just as broken as all the bodies that are strewn across the United States.”

I could not have said it better myself.

Randy Mains is an author, public speaker, and a CRM/AMRM consultant who works in the helicopter industry after a long career of aviation adventure. He currently serves as chief CRM/AMRM instructor for Oregon Aero. He may be contacted at [email protected]