The Four Forces of Flight and Life

It's that time of year again, when HEMS crews are sent out to area schools for Prom Promises, Career days, and end of school-year parties. When we arrive in helicopters and our uniforms, we make an impression. Kids are interested for a few minutes, we have chance to teach them something.

The following comments resonated with children and teachers. If you like, make something like this part of your presentation.

"Boys and girls - I want to share one last thing with you before you go. We've enjoyed being with you today, and hope you have a great summer.

As you look at our helicopter, know that every aircraft is subject to four forces in flight. These four forces combine and result in the helicopter going in the direction we want it to: to pick up someone who needs our help.

Those forces are; lift - created by the spinning rotor system, weight - the effect of gravity trying to pull us down, thrust, the force that pushes us forward, and drag - at high speeds the air slows us down. Everything that flies is subject to these four forces.

(Look at a child in her eyes, ask her name - ask the other children to give her a round of applause while clapping your hands together. You just made a friend and refocused attention)

Okay kids - I want you to know that "Ashley" is subject to those same four forces, in life!

And so is each of you!

Lift is that part of you that can learn new things, you can rise up tomorrow above where you are today because you have good brains. You can learn anything - as a matter of fact you can understand the words that I am speaking because as an infant you learned the English language. And that is something that is very hard to do. But you did it - one word at a time. Remember, you can learn anything if you really want to and you don't give up.

Weight is the force, like gravity pulling us to earth, that tries to keep you down. It is fear inside of you that you aren't good enough, that you aren't smart enough. Gravity is self -doubt but your lift can overcome it -just like that helicopter's rotor system will overcome it in a few minutes.

Thrust is your teachers, your parents, the people who care for you, pushing you forward. There are people who want you to succeed. Don't make their job harder. Listen to them, respect them, appreciate them. They thrust you toward a bright future. We are here today to help thrust you forward in life.

Drag is what slows the helicopter down. We do everything we can to eliminate drag. Some helicopters have wheels that go up into the belly of the aircraft to cut drag. The shape of the fuselage (the body) is designed to cut drag.

There is drag in your life too. "Drag" is the people around you who try and hold you back. Maybe they are afraid of trying, and they want to make you afraid too. Maybe they want you to do things you should not, things that you know are wrong. Think about the people you hang around with, and if they are a source of drag, why not stay away from them. Drag prevents moving forward. Drag works against thrust.

Stick with the thrust - drop the drag.

Okay, that's probably enough preaching.

By the way... can a girl grow up and fly helicopters?

(inevitable chorus... yes)

I CAN'T HEAR YOU...

YESSSSSS!"

Y'all have fun now...

TBT : Our Cup of Goodwill...

A couple of  years ago Jeanne and I went on a Smooth Jazz Cruise for a week. We had a great time going to the big shows each night, hanging with cool people, and soaking up the tropical vibe. The best part of the ride took place the night before we stopped in Key West. We went to the early evening show in which Marcus Miller did things with a bass guitar that were mind and eardrum blowing, and were then walking back toward our stateroom. We passed by a small, almost empty piano bar and I suggested we stop in for a drink. The room was dark, and the ship's piano player was tickling the ivories. I stood there for a minute and as my eyes adjusted I noticed Jonathan Butler - one of the featured musicians on board - sitting at a table with his family. "Hey Jeanne, that's Jonathan Butler. Let's sit at the piano for minute..."

I sat down and exchanged pleasantries with the piano player, an older fellow with a slightly tired grin and a vast talent, and we ordered drinks. After a few minutes, in this dark little empty space, J.B. got up from his table and walked over to the piano.

"Oh snap, he's gonna play!"

The house-player gave up his seat at the piano and then Rick Braun walked in with his horn in his hand. He and J.B. started talking and smiling. Then the fellow who had chartered the boat, the entire boat with 2000 passengers, came in and sat down. Then a couple more performers bellied up to the piano, and the cruise host... Someone said, "close the doors."

Now I don't know what your favorite music is, but imagine if you had the chance to sit in a dark bar with the people who make it, and listen to them talk, and play for each other. We sat there quietly and took it in - loving every minute of it.

Then it happened. Someone from across the piano didn't recognize us and asked "what do you do?"

I sipped my Jameson, put down the glass, and said "I take sick people to the hospital in helicopters." 

"Wow." "Cool man." "That must be really something..."  We were made to feel welcome, and J.B. played Jeanne a love song for her birthday. J.B. and Rick Braun jammed into a couple of songs, and then the others took turns performing, and it was a really good time... A once in a lifetime kind of thing. And Jeanne and I were welcomed because of what we do. She takes care of sick people and I fly. 

Society - today - looks up to us, literally and figuratively. We enjoy significant good will and support from the communities we serve, and will continue to do so unless we lose our way and get out of touch with the "service" aspect of our business

I know that operating a HEMS business is challenging. The risks are significant. The amount of capital required is staggering. There is no guarantee of success. The old joke about making a small fortune (by starting with a big one and buying a helicopter) has played itself out time and again. It is understandable, and rational, that as business people in the business of transporting ill and injured persons for profit, we  attempt to maximize our profits, and perform as many transports as possible.

We don't check for insurance before flying someone, and some people don't pay anything - that money is lost. We also don't get paid for airborne standby flights that get cancelled. Or lots of other community services we provide. But obviously there is money to be made because the number of EMS helicopters has exploded in just over a decade.

Occasionally, profit-motive can run over caring and compassion like a squirrel in the road and leave the caring aspect a little flat.

An anecdote:  A rural hospital employee suffered a stroke and was transported by helicopter to definitive care at a stroke-center. She recovered, and got a bill approaching $20,000 for a 15 minute flight. She was contacted by the transport service's billing department and the discussion went something like this:

"Well ma'am, your insurance has authorized payment of $5000.00 for this transport which leaves you with a balance of $15,000.00. How do you intend to pay this?"

"Sir, I don't have $15,000.00 to pay this bill. I work in a country hospital and don't make much. I can come up with another $5,000 and hope that can be acceptable to settle my bill."

"No ma'am that will not settle your account. Do you think you might get your church to have a fund-raiser? Or perhaps you could have your husband come out of retirement and get another job..."

This actually happened. The thing that makes it so wrong is that if this patient had been a Medicare beneficiary, thanks to "assignment," whatever Medicare had paid would have amounted to 80% of the total allowable charge, and this woman's obligation would been only 20% of that allowable amount. And the company would have been satisfied. But she wasn't under Medicare and was stuck.

This is the kind of story that goes viral. It smacks of greedy helicopter companies sticking it to people at their worst and weakest point of life, and if the word gets out that this is the way our industry is, that good will I was mentioning earlier will be...

Gone!

Stories like this are starting to appear more and more frequently, and our business is coming under a spotlight. Click Here.

Courtesy AP

In the state of Georgia, rural hospitals are closing their doors one-after-the-other. The state is considering changing the rules to allow for alternative facilities, a sort of "hospital-lite" to allow for stabilization prior to transfer (flight). Mentioned in the same article about this was the statement that Georgia has allocated $12 million dollars for EMS helicopter trips in southwest Georgia. Everyone knows that helicopters save lives and shore up an underfunded overburdened healthcare system. well, almost everyone

But if the companies don't cotton to the fact that one aw-crap wipes out a thousand atta-boys, and use some common sense regarding business development and utilization-review, the friendly folks in government are going to start getting irate emails and phone calls and in addition to not getting paid there will be hell to pay. 

May wiser heads prevail.To prevent stories like this..        

So that our cup of goodwill never runs empty...

Who Needs Training? Everyone!

Courtesy Helicopter Association International

"if you think training costs too much money, let me assure you, that expense will pale in comparison to the cost of an accident."

I’ve noticed that when we talk about training in our industry, we tend to focus on the pilots. Don’t get me wrong, pilot training is a cornerstone of HAI’s safety initiatives. A pilot is the final safety gate for all flights, shouldering the ultimate responsibility for the safety of crew, passengers, and aircraft.

While we recognize the benefits of pilot training, it is shortsighted to think that training belongs only in the cockpit. For example, maintenance staff are absolutely critical to achieving safe and successful operations, yet their training often does not receive the same attention as that for pilots. We should look at training and development for every staff member, including flight crews, maintenance technicians, flight dispatchers, aircraft schedulers, administrative support, and management, as well as pilots.

This approach is aligned with the principles of safety management systems (SMS). First, safety and operational performance are linked: when you improve one, you improve the other. Increased safety and performance in turn affect the financial viability of your organization.

Second, all staff members are key to the success of an organization’s safety program. While pilots are the final safety gate, we now recognize that each staff member contributes to a safe flight. Accordingly, training should be developed and implemented for all staff members of an organization, from the entry-level employee up to and including the executive management and owner.

At a minimum, all staff members of a business should be schooled in that organization’s mission, policies, and procedures. This may seem too basic to mention, but this foundation is necessary for everyone to work in a coordinated, interdependent, and supportive manner. Unless you have a payroll of one, every business depends on the teamwork of various departments and specialists working together.

Subsequent training would focus on individuals’ specific duties, the technical requirements of their positions, and how they can contribute to their own safety and that of their co-workers and customers. When you step back and look at how each individual contributes to the success of the operation, the value of a structured training program for each individual becomes apparent.

When assessing training needs for your organization, don’t forget to look in the mirror. Owners, executives, and management personnel all need to be involved in professional development programs too. This may shock some, but even I do not know all things and need training.

In building your professional development program, you’ll have many choices. But I urge you to always train to a higher level, beyond the minimum legal and regulatory requirements. Train your personnel to conduct their responsibilities as though every detail matters — because in our industry, it does.

Just as we have initial and recurrent training for pilots, you should consider the life cycle of professional development for all employees. Training isn’t just a box to check off — many employees will benefit from periodic refresher or advanced courses.

The benefits of a well-developed, comprehensive training program are many. The most notable are the prevention of accidents, injuries, and death. However, both commercial and general aviation / private operations can also reap enhanced operational efficiencies that will translate into improved financial performance. Commercial operators should realize retention and expansion of the customer base.

If you are one of those people who think you already know everything and therefore don’t need professional development, think again. You probably need training more than anyone. As the great basketball coach John Wooden said, “It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts.”

Some of you may put off training because of cost concerns. This is understandable. My readers who maintain an aircraft for personal use have already sunk considerable sums into their passion. And for business owners, the financial health of their operation is always top of mind.

However, if you think training costs too much money, let me assure you, that expense will pale in comparison to the cost of an accident. To really analyze training costs, you should also look at how much you are losing because of operational inefficiencies, not to mention the revenue lost to your competitors.

Well-trained, safety-oriented employees have the best chance to produce the safest, most efficient operations. There is a solid business case for training, and it’s time for us all to get on board.

That’s my story and I am sticking to it. Let me know what you think at tailrotor@aol.com.

As always, fly safe — fly neighborly.

Best regards,

Matt Zuccaro is president and CEO of HAI.

Air Methods and Bayfront Health to Enter Into Preferred Provider Arrangement

Denver, May 4, 2015 – Air Methods Corporation (NASDAQ: AIRM), the global leader in air medical transportation, announced today that it is entering into a preferred provider relationship with Bayfront Health and its Bayflite air medical transport program.

“Air Methods is honored to be a long-time partner of Bayfront Health and the Bayflite program,” said Mike Allen, Air Methods’ president of domestic air medical services. “The program has strong roots in the community, caring for critically-ill and injured patients who need immediate, specialized care. Together, we devote ourselves-safely and prudently-to ensuring patients across 15 counties on the west coast of Florida have access to the highest quality, around-the-clock service.”

Under the new preferred provider arrangement, Air Methods will provide program management, aviation, fuel, maintenance, aircraft, dispatch, billing and EMS licensure for the three Bayflite bases located in North Port (Sarasota County), Tampa (Hillsborough County) and Brooksville (Hernando County), Fla. Each base is staffed with 20 highly-trained Air Methods professionals, including flight nurses, flight paramedics, mechanics and pilots, in service 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In addition, the program will continue to operate as Bayflite.

“We are proud of our history at Bayflite, being the first operational Helicopter Air Ambulance program on the west coast of Florida,” said Lisa Nummi, Bayfront Health’s assistant chief executive officer. “Since 1986, we have flown more than 56,000 patients, and have grown into an internationally recognized air medical program. Through our partnership with Air Methods, and our anticipated move into the new service model, our communities will continue to see Bayflite helicopters in the skies above, knowing that we are there for them.”

The transition will be completed within an estimated 60 days, once the required County licenses have been transferred.

CommLab - simulation training for EMS communication specialists...

The Helicopter Flight Training Center, a world-class facility for pilot and maintenance training, recently introduced the revolutionary new CommLab.  The simulation lab is the first and only of its kind for air medical communication specialists and dispatchers.  Training the communication team is part of the safety plan recommended by the NTSB and aviation insurance industry.  Industry leaders have come together showing that there is no competition when it comes to Safety.

Through a partnership with the leading industry vendors, Flight Vector, Golden Hour, HSI, Xybix and Zoll, the two-day course provides state-of-the art training for communication specialists as they navigate a variety of scenarios.  Class participants train for inter-facility and scene transfers, multiple aircraft requests, change of landing zones and more.  The communication professionals also interface in real time with pilots conducting simulator training at the training center.
Upcoming dates are May 18 to 19 and June 22 to 23.

Courtesy Terry Palmer, Metro Aviation.

CommLab at the Helicopter Flight Training Center from Metro Aviation on Vimeo.

Feedback on AMRM Training Solutions...

"everyone who viewed the video of the AMRM training session enjoyed it and found it useful. It was well received all around. I've spoken with Eric (our director), and he's in agreement with me that this kind of training would be beneficial for us on an annual basis. I'd like to invite you back next year,"

I travel to flight programs and present Air Medical Resource Management Training. This started after a friend crashed and killed himself - which was a tragedy - and his crew, which was a spur to action.

If your flight program is subject to human factors and human errors, and you would like to help prevent same - contact me. I will never make much money with this, but money isn't why I do it. I have spent time with hundreds, perhaps thousands of folks. Not one of them has come to harm in a helicopter.

How to Avoid Running Into a Tower Without Really Trying

Just think about it.

As a self-check against "invulnerability," I roll memories of mistakes around in my head from time to time. This keeps me honest, and alive. When I think about tower-strikes, I remember a rainy, foggy night in the Midwest when I was the pilot-in-command of an MH-47 Chinook. I was in the lead aircraft, recovering to a military airfield in deteriorating weather under NVGs.

My copilot and I decided that we should get a clearance to fly on instruments, and fly an instrument approach to the airport; because conditions had deteriorated to the point that we could barely see the ground three hundred feet below us, and the view out front looked like the inside of a bright green ping-pong ball.

No sooner had we committed to instrument flight and begun a climb than the chip light for our number-two engine illuminated. The emergency procedure required me to shut down the engine; in the clouds while climbing. Luckily the engines on that aircraft were robust, and we could climb on one motor at several hundred feet a minute. As this was transpiring, I noticed a flashing light off the nose, penetrating the clouds, visible because it was red, and goggles respond well to red lights. In a few seconds we passed over the light, continued to climb, and in due time got a clearance and shot our approach.

This memory comes to me at night and makes me cringe. Because what I never even considered that night was that the flashing light I was seeing might not have been mounted on the top of the tower. If it hadn't been, I would not be writing this.

Towers have killed a lot of crews, in all sectors of the aviation industry. In one noteworthy example...

On October 15, 2008, at 2358 central daylight time, a Bell 222 helicopter, N992AA, operated by Air Angels Inc., and piloted by a commercial pilot, was destroyed when it impacted a radio station tower 

and the ground in Aurora, Illinois. The tower stood 734 feet above ground level. A post crash fire ensued. The emergency medical services (EMS) transport flight was conducted under 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 135, and was en route from the Valley West Hospital Heliport (0LL7), Sandwich, Illinois, to the Children’s Memorial Hospital Heliport (40IS), Chicago, Illinois, when the accident occurred. Night visual meteorological conditions prevailed in the area of the accident site. All four occupants, including the pilot, a flight paramedic, a flight nurse, and the 14 month old patient, were fatally injured. The flight originated about 10 minutes prior to the accident....The helicopter had impacted the 734-foot tall radio station tower on its west side about 50 feet from the top of the tower

This accident occurred along a route of flight that this aircraft and this crew routinely traveled. The pilot had decades of experience flying, and should have known better. But us humans are subject to human factors, or human failings. They were motoring along, tending to a patient, perhaps considering what to do on their next day off, when something went bump in the night. It wasn't the first time for an EMS helo...

On April 25, 2000, at 1216 eastern daylight time, a Eurocopter BK117, N428MB, operating as Bayflite-3, collided with a radio transmission tower located on the Weedon Island State Preserve in St. Petersburg, Florida. The air medical flight, Bayflite-3, was operated by Rocky Mountain Helicopters under the provisions of Title 14 CFR Part 91 positioning flight with no flight plan filed. Visual weather conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. The medical evacuation helicopter was destroyed; the commercial pilot and his passengers were fatally injured. The local flight departed Bayfront Medical Center, in St. Petersburg, Florida, at 1212, and was en route to the Bayflite operations at St. Joseph Hospital in Tampa, Florida.

According to the operator, Bayflite-3 had completed a patient drop-off and was enroute to the Bayflite operation in Tampa, Florida. The operator also stated that the flight was flying a newly established route from the Bayfront Medical Center to St. Joseph Hospital. The new routing was in response to noise complaints from neighborhoods along the previously direct route. According to an eyewitness driving on San Martin Blvd., the helicopter was flying northeast at about 500 feet above the ground. As the eyewitness approached the radio transmission tower in the preserves, he noticed the helicopter as it collided with the radio transmission tower guy wire and the steel tower structure 480 feet above the ground. The helicopter continued several hundred feet northeast and crashed into a mangrove.

I had the chance to hear the Bayflight program director give a lecture on this crash a decade or so ago, and he described the pilot stopping by his office just prior to departing on the accident flight and mentioning that a new piece of avionics (aviation-electronics) had been installed in the aircraft. The crew was going to use it on the way home. One can imagine both the pilot and the medical crewmember sitting next to him attending to the new device, with no one looking outside as they approached the tower that killed them. This accident raised a lot of eyebrows, but didn't produce any rule changes. The 2008 crash however, did produce a new rule, which actually was nothing more than a formal statement requiring something that all pilots should do before any flight - determine how high they must fly to avoid striking something. Or, as an old fellow wrote...

Basic Flying

1.Try to stay in the middle of the air.
2.Do not go near the edges of it.

This humorous anecdote was written into law with this change to HEMS/HAA-O requirements.

VFR Flight Planning: Prior to conducting VFR operations under these Operations Specifications, the
pilot must determine the minimum safe altitudes along the planned enroute phase of flight.
(1) The minimum safe cruise altitudes shall be determined by evaluating the terrain and obstacles
along the planned route of flight.
(2) The pilot must ensure that all terrain and obstacles along the route of flight, except for takeoff and
landing, are cleared vertically by no less than the following:
a. 300 feet for day operations
b. 500 feet for night operations...

A pilot should be familiar with the area of operations, and should KNOW about the bigger towers in the area. Indeed she should be talking about them, looking for them, and also looking for any new ones each time she flies. As common-sense and noise-abatement dictate that we fly at least a thousand feet above the ground, we are assured of clearing the vast majority of antenna's sticking up a few hundred feet.

We can and should know the location of the taller obstacles in our operating area. In unfamiliar terrain, the hand-held map (or nav-display) is key to situational awareness, and I don't mean just a glance during preflight while noting the highest obstacle. When the medical crew is not attending to a patient, they can be a big help with the task of finding towers on the map and pointing them out. 

In the helicopter business, we should think about towers every step of the way. We should never assume that we are safe.

(Best Practice) When I am flying to an accident scene, and the destination's geographical coordinates change. The communication center relays these new numbers to me and I have to put my head down and re-enter the information into my GPS. So for twenty or thirty seconds I am not looking where I am flying. I announce "I'm inside." I expect a crewmember to state, "I'm outside."

Military aircraft hit towers too. Two friends of mine were conducting enemy-prisoner-of-war (EPW) transports upon the conclusion of the first Gulf War. The shooting was over. They began flying during the day, and absolutely expected to be finished before darkness, and were not. They had failed to bring their NVGs, and also failed to take note of the tower that they flew by several times that day, and they flew into it in the darkness. Perhaps they were lulled into a false sense of security by the relative emptiness of the desert and the fact that combat operations had ceased.

In another instance, two Warrant Officers assigned to my battalion were flying in southeast Georgia. Like me years earlier, they encountered instrument conditions while flying under visual flight rules (VFR). They talked about what to do and had decided to climb and get a clearance when they hit a tower.

DOERUN, Ga. - A military helicopter clipped a rural Georgia television station tower and crashed Thursday morning, killing four soldiers on a training mission, officials said. 

A fifth soldier aboard the MH-47 Chinook helicopter survived, said Lisa Eichhorn, a spokeswoman for Fort Rucker, Ala., home to the Army helicopter training school where the soldiers were headed.

The survivor's condition was not immediately available.

The helicopter had left Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah and went down in rural Colquitt County just after 8 a.m., said sheriff's dispatcher Becky Perry.

As it flew past a television station's 1,000-foot-tall tower, it clipped a wire, said Deborah Owens, station manager of WFXL. 

Sidebar: I have had some near misses, but the lone survivor from this particular crash must be the luckiest helicopter pilot alive.  The aircraft tore itself into two pieces, and somehow, from around 1000 feet up in the air, the cockpit section descended at a rate that allowed this lucky soul to live, perhaps in a sort of pseudo-autorotation. One guy                                                                                             lived, a fellow sitting a few                                                                                               inches away died.


We hit towers due to complacency, coupled with a lack of situational awareness. The S.A. chore is made much more difficult at night, and NVGs won't always help. Towers are sometimes illuminated with lights in the blue-green spectrum that NVGs don't respond to. So in that case, having someone looking where we are going unaided might save the night. Towers less than 200 hundred feet tall aren't even required to be lit, and they are EVERYWHERE.

This document might be something to discuss at your next briefing,

http://www.faa.gov/pilots/safety/pilotsafetybrochures/media/towers.pdf

Next time your pilot is preparing to brief, ask him or her to print out the notices to airman for your area or state. When I do this in South Carolina, I usually find 4 to 6 pages of unlit towers listed in the 300 to 700 foot tall range, with a couple of monsters listed as well. I mention the ones above 1000 feet tall, and hold up the pages to make an impression - there are a lot of unlit towers, and when we descend for landing at a scene we are heading into the danger zone. A friend of mine in Charleston SC flew right by a tower on final approach one evening - it was undetected until it went by the window. Going slow, with every possible light on and positioned for all aboard to have a chance to see a hazard, and most importantly expecting the unexpected will increase chances for survival.

In 2004, I transferred from Savannah, Georgia to a flight program in Columbia SC. When I got there, the crews passed on a story about a PHI pilot who had flown near the WIS-TV antennas one night at about one thousand feet. He was talking about how tall the towers are (around 2000 feet up), and how it was a good thing they are so well lit.  At that instant, the one that wasn't lit passed by the side window, just outside the rotor disk. They said that after he landed, he got out and threw up.

Don't make yourself sick. Towers are everywhere.

Just think about it.

(edited 5/2/15) (12/22/16)

.