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Helicopter Company Has Deadly Record

Written By Bruce Leshan 9 News

Last Updated: 5/31/2006 11:08:08 PM

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While MedStar has a spotless record, 9 News has learned the company that

provides pilots and services to MedStar choppers has had a lot of trouble.

And it's not alone. The entire medical helicopter industry is facing

scrutiny over safety.

The company is providing service to MedStar is CJ Systems out of

Pennsylvania. It faces a lawsuit in Ohio from a pilot who says he was fired

for raising safety issues. And last year, it had four crashes around the

country in the space of just 10 weeks.

The first crash was last August near a busy interstate in ville,

Florida. And, perhaps because of the heroic efforts of the pilot, no one was

hurt.

But just a month and a half later, another CJ-operated chopper crashed into

the Puget Sound near Seattle, killing the pilot and two crew members. A week

later, an accident near Pittsburgh killed another pilot.

And finally, at the end of October, a company-serviced helicopter slammed

into the ground seconds after taking off from a hospital in Olympia,

Washington leaving a nurse with minor injuries.

Seven months later, the MedStar crash, and CJ Systems insists it has no

explanation for all it's problems. It's called in an outside safety auditor

and promises more safety training. The NTSB is looking for answers, too.

But in Ohio, a former medevac pilot has filed suit against CJ, saying he was

required to fly on three successive nights in bad weather on a defective CJ

helicopter, the same chopper that later crashed in ville.

What we do know is that air ambulance accidents have grown even faster than

the increasingly popular service: killing 54 people between 2002 and 2005

and leading the NTSB to demand tougher regulations, better risk assessment

and tighter rules on flying in bad weather.

We wanted to talk to CJ System's President about his company's safety

record, but he was meeting with survivors of yesterday's crash and

unavailable.

A couple of other things: a new report in this month's issue of Air and

Space Magazine looked at more than 37,000 trauma patients evacuated by

helicopter and found two thirds were flown out even though their injuries

were just minor.

A s Hopkins University study says flying a medical chopper is now about

as dangerous as flying a fighter jet in wartime.