Like many Americans, I was deeply saddened by the crash of an emergency medical services Eurocopter Dauphin II helicopter last weekend in suburban Washington that killed four people and left another person in critical condition. But as a former chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, I was not shocked.
EMS helicopters are among the most dangerous aircraft in the skies. While major airline crashes have declined over the past decade, EMS helicopter fatalities have increased. Until this year, the worst annual record belonged to 2004, with 18 killed. So far in 2008 there have been 20 deaths. Clearly, things are getting worse.