The alarming rise in helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS) accidents in recent years has prompted a special National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) public forum on HEMS safety, a congressional hearing and much media coverage. And a senior Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) air safety official says additional safety devices, pilot training and air safety procedures are on the way as part of a new rulemaking for HEMS operations. The new safety requirements will significantly alter how helicopter-borne air ambulance operations will be conducted in the future.

For that reason, Aviation Today is assembling four aviation safety experts to discuss what it all means during its latest webinar-- A New Era for Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS)--set for Thursday, Sept. 24, 2009 at 11 a.m. (eastern time). The webinar will be moderated by Ramon Lopez, editor-in-chief of Air Safety Week.

NTSB Member Robert Sumwalt, Gary Sizemore, spokesman and past president, National EMS Pilots Association, Dr. Bryan Bledsoe, an emergency physician, researcher, and EMS author and a clinical professor of emergency medicine at the University of Nevada School of Medicine, and Ernie Stephens, former editor-in-chief, Rotor & Wing magazine and retired police officer/helicopter pilot, will examine the most significant accidents as well as the proposed remedies.

The timely webinar will also follow a Safety Board public meeting just scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 1 at 9:30 am to discuss 19 recommendations to improve helicopter EMS safety. Topics at the meeting will include pilot training and safety management systems to help reduce risk; collection of flight, weather and safety data; use of dual pilots, autopilots and night vision imaging systems (NVIS); and flight data monitoring.

Between December 2007 and October 2008, 13 rotorcraft air ambulances crashed in the U.S. killing 35 people. There have been 84 such accidents in the last six years, NTSB figures show. Our panel of subject matter experts, including Safety Board Member Sumwalt, will discuss the NTSB recommendations, exploring what can be done to lower the fatal accident rate for these life-saving rotorcraft operations.