FAA Plans Helo EMS Rulemaking

A House aviation subcommittee hearing held last month on helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS) safety sought to address the high accident rate, which resulted in 13 accidents and 35 fatalities in HEMS operations between December 2007 and October last year. FAA director of flight standards John Allen testified that the FAA is planning a rulemaking for HEMS safety initiatives. Representative James Oberstar (D-Minn.), chairman of the committee, said that although the FAA has increased weather and visibility minimums in HEMS Part 135 operations specifications, “this is not enough.”›