NTSB Wants More Helo Ops Oversight

The NTSB issued another set of recommendations regarding helicopter emergency medical service (EMS) operations, this time highlighting concerns with FAA oversight of public aircraft operators. These recommendations stem from a fatal accident on September 27 last year involving a Maryland State Police Eurocopter AS 365N1 operated as a public medical evacuation (see page 56). The NTSB recommended that the FAA seek legislative authority to regulate helicopter EMS operations using government-owned aircraft and that public operators implement flight-risk evaluation programs and formalize dispatch and flight-following procedures.