Police Aviation News April 2011

Police Aviation News April 2011 9
AIR AMBULANCE
INTERNATIONAL
SAFETY: Major helicopter emergency medical service
(HEMS) associations have committed to “create the safest system
possible for patients and the public” by adopting the datadriven
safety recommendations of the International Helicopter
Safety Team (IHST). They have called on all HEMS operators to
join their efforts.
“The leading helicopter operators in our industry have made significant
investments in safety programs,” which are “a starting
point in a long-term commitment to safer medical aviation,” the
groups’ leaders said in a joint letter signed March 6 during Helicopter
Association International’s HELI-EXPO 2011 in Orlando,
Fla.
While noting that countless lives have been saved since the inception 60 years ago of helicopter
medevac and SAR services, the HEMS leaders said, “it is clear that we must now all
act together as an industry to improve safety performance to continue to earn patient and
public trust.”
The industry and government co-chairs of IHST, HAI President Matt Zuccaro and FAA Rotorcraft
Directorate Manager Kim Smith, welcomed the added international support for pursuing
an 80 percent reduction in the worldwide helicopter accident rate from a 2005 baseline
by 2016.
The HEMS leaders said they “commit to the IHST process of data-driven best practice and
call upon all HEMS operators to join our efforts.”
The leaders were:
Erwin Stolpe, M.D., a member of the Board of Directors of the European HEMS and Air Ambulance
Committee (EHAC) and medical director of Germany’s ADAC Air Rescue;
Daniel Hankins, M.D., president of the Association of Air Medical Services (AAMS) and an
emergency medicine physician at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.;
Howard Ragsdale, president of the Air Medical Operators Association (AMOA) and director
of PHI Air Medical, headquartered in Phoenix, Ariz.;
Thomas Judge, EMTP, chairman of the Association of Critical Care Transport (ACCT) and
executive director of LifeFlight of Maine, based in Bangor, Maine;
Rex Alexander, president of the National EMS Pilots Association (NEMSPA) in the U.S.
Kevin Hutton, M.D., chairman of Medevac Foundation International (MFI) and chief executive
officer, founder, and chair of Golden Hour Data Systems, based in San Diego.
While he was unable to join his colleagues in Orlando, the president of the Aeromedical Society
of Australasia (ASA), Andrew Berry, M.D. also signed the letter. He also is state director
of the Newborn and paediatric Emergency Transport Service (NETS) of New South
Wales, Australia.
AUSTRALIA
RFDS: Hawker Pacific has announced the delivery of the first Beechcraft King Air 350C to
the Royal Flying Doctors Service (RFDS), as part of an agreement that will see five aircraft
delivered.
Operating under contract to the Air Ambulance Service New South Wales (AASNSW), the
RFDS South Eastern Section will eventually take delivery of two King Air 350Cs and three
B200C aircraft. The 350C variants delivered to the RFDS will also feature ex-factory cargo
doors and various aeromedical modifications to customise the aircraft for its intended use.