New Book Project

THE CAUSES OF HELICOPTER CRASHES – Part 1 — Aviation …

aviationsafetyblog.com2/3/11

The start of this analysis must be the International Helicopter Safety Team (IHST) and its web site. The IHST was created in 2004 by manufacturers, operators, government agencies and NGO’s to slow the increasing rate of …

This just in…as they say. Anyone who has read my book, The Sky Behind Me, a Memoir of Flying and Life knows that in my previous existence I was heavily invested in helicopter safety. Now that I’ve retired from aviation and become a writer it seems I’m even more invested in it. My new project has a working title: “Air Medical–People Flying People.” The book is to be the definitive story of the Air Medical helicopter industry--history, operation, management, growth, challenges, and yes, safety record. I’m looking for all the input I can get for the project, and expect it will take at least a year to complete. It’s being written from the perspective of people who do the job, as I did for twenty years, the flight crews who take off day and night to ‘save lives and fight disease,’ as we often said, tongue firmly in cheek. The Air Med story is a great one about dedicated, highly-focused people who love what they do and disregard the naysayers.

The ad referenced above is just one of many issuing from various safety-related agencies: AAMS, NEMSPA, FAA, NTSB. No one has checked in with the pilots and medical crews. That’s my purview, and I’m going after it.