Aero Medical Safety Campaign

A philanthropic campaign aimed at improving safety in air medical and critical care transport was unveiled at the Heli-Expo conference by the Foundation for Air-Medical Research & Education (FARE), the charitable arm of the Association of Air Medical Services. "A key goal of the FARE-based safety campaign is to raise funds that will target education and leadership initiatives as well as technical equipment advances aimed at improving medevac helicopter safety," said FARE Chair Kevin Hutton, MD, FACEP, CHC. "That is why we have fostered this initiative - because safety is our top priority, and because reducing accidents down to zero is our chief safety objective." Specific campaign initiatives include: a request for proposal to conduct critically-needed research on human factors affecting the implementation of civilian air-medical night-vision-goggles (NVG); a white paper regarding current best practices in safety for air medical transport. The paper will have a special focus on safety equipment, such as Helicopter Terrain Awareness Warning Systems (HTAWS); a mobile integrated-safety trainer simulator; and, an online education and training tool focused on the appropriate utilization of air medical transport services. Such a tool would be designed to provide emergency department medical residents with a better understanding of the appropriate utilization of air medical transport. A further goal of the campaign is to secure donations and grants for safety technology enhancements, such as NVGs, as well as grants for training.

EMS Goes to Washington

Dozens of air medical services personnel from across the country gathered in the nation's capital March 11-13 to draw greater attention to issues affecting the emergency medical transport community. Air medical services providers met with lawmakers on Capitol Hill to brief them about the need for federal funding to support the low-altitude aviation infrastructure and other issues related to air medical services. The meetings were part of the annual Spring Conference of the Association of Air Medical Services (AAMS). Robert Sumwalt, NTSB board member and helicopter EMS safety hearings board of inquiry chairperson, discussed the Feb. 3-6, 2009 NTSB hearing on EMS operations. John McGraw, FAA, deputy director, flight standards service, discussed the latest rules, policies and activities of the FAA as they pertain to aviation in air medical services and aviation safety.

Turkish Airlines Safety Warning

The Dutch Accident Investigation Board's preliminary report into the Turkish Airlines 737 crash at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport has reinforced previous safety warnings issued by AEI. The engineering group has been warning for some time that completely avoidable accidents such as this will increase unless regulators start to properly enforce the regulations. Dutch investigators revealed that an altimeter on the airliner was defective on at least two occasions prior to the fatal flight without being reported by the flight crews. "We have warned the authorities and in fact supplied evidence of pilots not reporting faults with their aircraft as they occur but rather when commercially convenient, yet the issue continues to be ignored," said AEI's Secretary General Fred Bruggeman. In 2007 and 2008, AEI repeatedly warned European aviation authorities about pilots not reporting aircraft system defects but unfortunately the warnings were ignored. AEI would like to see aviation authorities increase their surveillance of airlines in order to guarantee that standards are being met.

ERAU/Frasca's Advanced Flight Training Device

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and Frasca International, a top manufacturer of flight training simulation equipment for aircraft, recently unveiled the first integrated flight training device (FTD) with virtual air traffic control commands that will give student pilots more realistic training. Designed specifically for general aviation pilot training, the product is called SAFTE (Synthetic Automated Flight Training Environment) with Virtual Air Traffic (VAT). SAFTE/VAT incorporates simulated flight plans with voice recognition technology to deliver a real world flight experience, allowing the student pilot to "fly" in a particular situation or air space, and receive specific commands from the virtual air traffic controller. The technology enables the flight instructor to focus on teaching rather than role-playing and better trains the student through repetitive, learned behaviors in scenario-based situations.

AgustaWestland/CAE AW139 Training

AgustaWestland and CAE say AgustaWestland AW139 initial helicopter type rating and recurrent training is now available in Morristown, NJ. The training program is approved by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The AgustaWestland program utilizes a newly approved FAA and European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) certified Level D AW139 full-flight simulator, which CAE will run at its Northeast Training Center (NETC).

First Flight Using Class 2 EFB With Airport Moving Map

Continental Airlines has successfully completed the world's first flight using Jeppesen Airport Moving Map on a Class 2 Electronic Flight Bag (EFB). Also on board were Jeppesen digital charts. Continental plans retrofit of navAero Class 2 EFB systems starting with a dozen aircraft, leading to deployment on all of its Boeing 757 and 767 aircraft. Combined with Class 3 EFBs already deployed on Boeing 777 aircraft, Continental will have EFBs with Jeppesen Airport Moving Map and Jeppesen digital charts on most of its fleet. Jeppesen was granted FAA Technical Standard Order (TSO) authorization for its Airport Moving Map application for Class 2 EFB devices in March 2008. Jeppesen Airport Moving Map uses a high resolution database to dynamically render maps of the airport, and through the use of GPS technology, show pilots their position ("own-ship") on the airport surface. The result is much improved positional awareness among flight crews, which is a critical safety factor for reducing runway incursions during ground operations, especially at busy commercial airports with complex runway and taxiway layouts. Thomas Wede, Jeppesen senior vice president and general manager, aviation, said "by retrofitting their existing aircraft with Class 2 EFB hardware solutions and Jeppesen Airport Moving Map, Continental takes a major step forward in transitioning to a paperless flight deck and reducing the risk of runway incursions."

EC145 Night Vision Certification

Named as the preferred provider for the Texas Department of Public Safety, REB TECH recently completed night vision conversions for the state's new EC145 and five AS350B2s. The EC145 supplemental type certification (STC) was recently approved by the FAA and the aircraft has been placed in service. The mods include cockpit and cabin lighting systems, instrumentation, avionics, and mission related equipment for the EC145 and AS350s. "The modifications are clean and efficient and don't require the use of floodlights in the cockpit. We're able to fly during the day unaided and at night with the goggles. We now have some of the most technically advanced cockpits of any law enforcement agency in the world." said Chief Pilot Bill Nabors.

Emergency Landing in NYC

An American Airlines MD-80 landed safely at New York's Kennedy International on March 11 after the No. 2 engine dropped metal debris onto a home. No injuries were reported, either on the aircraft or the ground. The flight deck crew reported a loud noise just after takeoff. American Air Flight 309 had left New York's LaGuardia Airport for Chicago. It was quickly diverted to Kennedy Airport, about 12 miles from LaGuardia.

The plane with 88 passengers and a crew of five landed at JFK 21 minutes after takeoff.

Turbine blades were found embedded in the fuselage of the aircraft. There was no immediate indication that the engine failed because of a bird strike. A detailed inspection of the failed engine is ongoing.