United States Department of Transportation
i
Medical Helicopter Accident Review: Causes and Contributing Factors
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2021-05-01
[PDF-1.38 MB]
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Edition:Final
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Abstract:The purpose of this study was to determine the quantitative differences in Emergency Medical Service (EMS) and non-EMS helicopter accident rates and trends by examining accident reports of both fatal and non-fatal accidents. The study also aimed to identify contributing factors or conditions that result in either fatal or non-fatal helicopter accidents. This was a retrospective, longitudinal observational study that examined more than 3,000 EMS and non-EMS helicopter accident records covering 20 years beginning in 1999 provided by the National Transport Safety Board and analyzed their data using linear and multivariate logistic regression models along with statistical hypothesis tests to predict trends and associations. This study found that fatal accidents accounted for a much higher proportion of EMS helicopter accidents than non-EMS accidents (rates for non-EMS helicopter accidents were essentially twice that for EMS accidents), and the rates for fatal helicopter accidents did not differ between EMS and non-EMS. Additionally, the study found two prevalent factors that determined EMS accident fatality: visibility/darkness and pilot decision making/judgment. Additional factors highly associated with fatal EMS accidents were pilots with a second-class medical certificate rather than first-class and the lack of a second pilot. Exploring the reasons for the much higher proportion of fatal EMS vs. non-EMS accidents is outside the scope of this study. Such questions could be the subject of further research. Detailed analyses focusing on this research could lead to a reduction in fatal EMS accident rates.
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