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The Wichita-Based Air Ambulance Service Receives Certification for Its Equipment and Training Program

Posted on: Friday, 14 April 2006, 03:03 CDT

By Phyllis Jacobs Griekspoor, The Wichita Eagle, Kan.

Apr. 14--Wichita-based EagleMed has become a leader among the nation's approximately 650 air ambulance service providers with FAA acceptance of its Air Ambulance Flight Coordinator Training and Certification program.

EagleMed's enhanced equipment for flight following and training program for communications personnel were certified this week by a Federal Aviation Administration official as fully compliant.

The new FAA regulations came after a two-year investigation into soaring accident rates among air ambulance aircraft, especially helicopters. The change requires all air ambulance operators to develop an accident avoidance program and directs inspectors to confirm compliance "within 90 days," which would be April 24.

Elizabeth Isham Cory, a spokeswoman for the FAA, said that a revision March 14 gave inspectors 90 days from that date to confirm that every operator had a program in place.

While many of the requirements for pilot training and aircraft systems are already in use by many air ambulance providers, highly trained flight-following personnel and sophisticated equipment are rare.

Many small operations, for example, have radio contact with pilots, but no ability to actually "see" the flight as it progresses or receive readouts about course and altitude. They follow the flight on a sectional chart, estimating its location by aircraft speed and time lapse.

EagleMed, which is owned by Ballard Aviation, operates out of Mid-Continent Airport. It employs a GPS tracking system for each airplane or helicopter in its fleet. The system also includes real-time weather radar, which can be overlaid on the flight path.

Shortly after installing that system, EagleMed began developing a training program to help ground controllers understand what they were seeing.

"Having weather information on the screen doesn't help if the person looking at it doesn't know how to interpret it," said Allen Zon, operations manager for EagleMed. "Pilots are trained in that but dispatchers typically are not."

Mark Hain, who has been at EagleMed for about two years, said EagleMed's flight coordinators routinely dispatch and monitor between 13 and 15 flights during a 12-hour shift.He said his job has rewards that few people get to experience.

"It's nice to go home every day knowing that you've been a part of helping somebody in need get help in time," he said.

Zon said having a training program in place enabled EagleMed to move quickly into compliance with the new FAA regulations.

It includes a 60-hour ground school training program that provides flight coordinators with extensive training in aviation weather, navigation techniques, emergency procedures and other training the FAA specified for certification.

"What we are moving toward with this system is flight coordinators whose role is a lot closer to that of an air traffic controller than to a traditional dispatcher," Zon said.

Reach Phyllis Jacobs Griekspoor at (316) 268-6660 or pgriekspoor@wichitaeagle.com [mailto:pgriekspoor@wichitaeagle.com].

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Wichita Eagle, Kan.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: The Wichita Eagle (Wichita, Kan.)

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