As the year 2018, comes to an end, we look at some of the events that truly were widely discussed by the air ambulance transport industry. Some of the most viewed stories of our website were related to safety and costs associated with air ambulances. Of course, the year also saw its share of tragedies were lives were lost. There were also some heroic stories where air ambulance pilots went out of their way and successfully averted tragedies that would have cost lives. Here are some of the stories that caught the attention of the world.
FAA Reauthorization Act that Affects Air Ambulance Transport Deeply
Perhaps the biggest news maker in the air ambulance transport industry was the FAA Reauthorization bill. While huge efforts were made to make state intervention in the affairs of air ambulance operations possible, some heavy lobbying by the air ambulance industry took the edge off this bill. We predict that FAA Reauthorization bill will cause ripples in the year 2019 as well, mainly because an advisory committee has been set up to look into the affairs of air ambulance companies.
Bismarck Air Ambulance Tragedy that Snuffed Three Lives
Todd Lasky, Bonnie Cook, and Chris Iverson lost their lives in this tragedy where the air ambulance crashed in a densely wooded area just minutes after takeoff. The air ambulance transport vehicle had suffered severe technical damage at 14,000 feet above the sea level. The investigations into the crash are still on.
Chicago Air Ambulance Transport Crash Where No Lives were Lost
It was all thanks to the pilot of Eurocopter 135 as he had skillfully avoided crashing into people. In fact, he had skillfully crash landed on a patch of land just off Interstate 57 at around 10 in the morning, which is usually a high-traffic time. The crash is still being investigated by the FAA.