The increasing number of crashes involving medical helicopters has been a great source of concern to personal injury lawyers in Houston and around Texas. In the latest such crash, three people were killed when their helicopter went down during a training exercise at Fort Bliss.
According to the Houston Chronicle, the helicopter was about to land when it crashed at the McGregor Range. Three crewmembers, including a pilot from Arizona and two paramedics from New Mexico and El Paso, were killed in the crash. The helicopter was being operated by Southwest Medevac.
From all accounts, the weather was not a factor in this crash, and the pilot remained in contact with his communication center and military officers throughout. Besides, the crewmembers had night vision goggles, and access to GPS and satellite navigation systems. Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board have already reached the scene of the crash.
This isn’t the first time that a fatal medical helicopter crash has grabbed headlines. The year 2008 saw a rash of such accidents across the country, many of them fatal. That year, a helicopter owned by PHI Inc crashed near Huntsville, Texas, killing the pilot, flight nurse, paramedic and a passenger. The same month, two helicopters collided in Arizona, killing 6 people. Those two fatal accidents were among a series of fatal and non-fatal crashes involving medical helicopters that had Houston personal injury attorneys calling for more federal oversight of these operators.
Unfortunately, the EMS helicopter industry is a highly competitive one, and dozens of helicopter companies are engaged in a cutthroat war for lucrative contracts. As in any scenario where there has been accelerated, unbridled growth with no regulation to temper it, this rise of the EMS helicopter industry has also meant lack of safety standards, poor training for pilots and lack of oversight. The situation has been made worse by a failure on the part of federal agencies to get EMS operators to comply with federal operation specifications, implement flight light risk evaluation programs and use better dispatch procedures.
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Vuk Vujasinovic is a Board Certified Houston personal injury attorney who practices Houston auto accident and other personal injury cases.
For more info on how Vuk can help you with your potential case please call him at (877) 724-7800 or fill out the contact form on the right.
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