Because Information Changes Everything

New York October 16, 2008 -- The deadly crash of an emergency medical helicopter outside of Chicago late Wednesday night illustrates a grim statistical reality; the eight hours between ten p.m. and six am are the most dangerous hours to fly by helicopter medivac. Nearly half of all the EMS helicopter crashes take place during this time.

Statistics from the Comprehensive Medical Aviation Services Database (CMAS) shows that out of 193 accidents over the past 21 years, 90 accidents occurred on what it calls "the back side of the clock". The database has just been introduced through Humanitarian Research Services Inc, a New York based agency.

Fatigue is a pervasive problem in these accidents, according to Dr. Patrick Veillette a commercial pilot, former EMS pilot and noted threat and error management specialist who created the CMAS Database, and the situation seems to be getting worse. "In just the last 8 years there have been 48 accidents that occurred on the "back side of the clock."

Nighttime accidents are more likely to be fatal. Air ambulance accidents that occurred at night were almost four times more likely to result in fatalities than those occurring during the day.

The CMAS Database is a proprietary commercial database and the first to combine more than two decades of medical aviation events, incidents and accidents in one searchable repository. Using the safety research and analysis from Patrick Veillette's provocative 2001 reports on helicopter and fixed wing medical flights for the Flight Safety Foundation, Dr. Veillette and air safety expert, Christine Negroni have updated and expanded their sources to include not only government data but events recorded by industry as well. The CMAS Database is constantly updated and searchable by more than two dozen separate parameters.

Dr. Veillette's writing on aviation safety has earned him awards including the NBAA Golden Wing and Aerospace Journalist of the Year. Christine Negroni is an air safety consultant, researcher and writer. Humanitarian Research Services Inc. is a private investigation and research company based in New York. Find us on the web at www.humanitarian-research.com.

Fonte: Flight Safety Information 17/10/2008.