Helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS) pilots with less than six years of experience were nine times more likely than their more experienced colleagues to be involved in fatal crashes at night in deteriorating weather conditions, a team of Australian researchers says.1
In a report published in the September issue of Aerospace Medicine and Human Performance, the researchers recommended “interventions” for low-time pilots to help them build experience that will make these accidents less likely to occur.
Their study analyzed U.S. National Transportation Safety Board reports on 32 fatal accidents between 1995 and 2013 that involved single pilots flying under visual flight rules (VFR); all 32 accidents involved either loss of control or controlled flight into terrain (CFIT).
The report noted that HEMS pilots have characterized poor weather conditions as the greatest hazard they encounter, and that, “without careful evaluation and planning, inhibited …
