Press Article Excerpts 2005

USA Today, "Surge in crashes scars air ambulance industry"

          The helicopter flight to take heart patient Jerry Leonard from one Indiana hospital to another should have been routine. But on the night of the trip, April 20, 2004, the pilot on the Air Evac Lifeteam air ambulance apparently forgot to adjust the helicopter's altimeter, federal records show. When he slammed the helicopter carrying Leonard into a hillside near Boonville, Ind., the cockpit gauge showed he was 310 feet off the ground. More...

Washington Post, "Airline Inspections Called Inadequate: FAA Hasn't Kept Up With Risks Posed By Industry Cost-Cutting, Report Says"

           The Federal Aviation Administration is failing to effectively oversee new safety risks posed by sharp cost-cutting in the airline industry and rapid growth of budget carriers, a government report concludes.
           U.S. airlines -- many of which continue to struggle financially -- are looking for new ways to cut costs by outsourcing maintenance and reducing the time that planes are parked at gates. More...

Reuters, "Egypt Plane Crash Report Delayed to Year-End"

           The release of a report into an air crash in Egypt which killed 148 people last year has been delayed from June until the end of the year, the head of the investigation said on Wednesday.
           Shaker Kelada said investigators needed more time to study what caused the Flash Airlines Boeing 737 to crash, killing 133 French tourists in January 2004. The plane crashed into the Red Sea just after take off from Sharm el-Sheikh airport.
           Investigators said in November the plane had gone into a steep turn after take-off and the crew did not fully correct it before the crash.
           Samir Abdel Maaboud, head of Egypt's Civil Aviation Authority, said there were new details which needed study but he did not specify what they were, Egypt's official Middle East News Agency said.

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Little Rock), "EagleMed joins Air Evac crafts in local rescues Statistics on need for, safety of copter ambulance conflicted"

           Northwest Arkansas is grappling with a growing yet little regulated medical air ambulance industry at the same time a national task force is trying to curb an increasing number of accidents.
           The fatal crash of a helicopter ambulance in Benton County earlier this year helped fuel the national debate about safety. Some national critics believe the emergence of private operators has increased safety risks. More...

The New York Times, "Dispute Builds Over Rise in Close Calls in New York Airspace"

           Air traffic controllers and managers at the Federal Aviation Administration are in an increasingly acrimonious dispute about why airplanes in flight in the New York City area are coming closer together than the rules allow at a rate 20 times higher this year than last.
          So far, 117 "operational errors" have been reported this year from the office in Westbury, on Long Island, where controllers sit at radar scopes in a windowless room and handle arrivals, departures and low-level flyovers in the area. There were 24 such errors in all of last year, and a previous high of about 60 in the mid-1990's at the New York Terminal Radar Approach Control office. More...

Rocky Mountain News, "Air ambulance too low on approach; Agency investigating crash that killed 3 near Rawlins, Wyo."

          The Steamboat Springs-based air ambulance that crashed about three miles from the Rawlins, Wyo., airport was flying too low and hit a ridge, officials said Thursday.
          "For some reason he was coming too low," Carbon County Sheriff Jerry R. Colson said. "He was coming in for a final approach to land, had his landing gear down, and it was snowing. Possibly, he thought he was higher than he was." More...

Newsday (NY), "U.S. to quash aircraft laser threat"

          Federal transportation officials Wednesday told pilots to immediately report laser beam incidents to air traffic controllers, and announced they are setting up a mechanism for pilots to receive warnings of such sightings and communicate them to federal authorities.
          Speaking at a news conference in Oklahoma City, Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta said that shining lasers at an aircraft "is stupid and dangerous. You are putting people at risk, and law enforcement authorities are going to seek you out, and if they catch you, they are going to prosecute you."
          Pilots have complained that they were given little guidance on how to report laser sightings and weren't told of a recent rash of incidents until learning of them through the media. Powerful new lasers commercially available can temporarily blind a pilot or even cause permanent eye damage. Officials believe the recent events are not terrorist-related, but stress that the potential for causing an airplane to crash because the pilot is temporarily blinded is real.

USA Today, "Pilots want warnings about laser dangers"

          Officials with airline pilots unions say the government should be doing more to alert them to incidents involving lasers and to provide guidance about how best to protect themselves against beams that can blind.
          At least eight recent incidents involve lasers being pointed at aircraft cockpits as they approached for landings. No one was hurt and all the aircraft landed safely.
          Denis Breslin, an American Airlines captain, said pilots learned about the incidents only through the news media. He said the government should have a way to alert pilots so they can take precautions.
          "Pilots want a generalized warning and training. I think that's not too much to ask," said Breslin, first vice president of the Allied Pilots Association.