Almost a year after a fatal medical helicopter crash near La Crosse took the lives of its three-member crew, a national debate is brewing over how much the air-ambulance industry should be regulated and by whom.
The Flight Safety Foundation has released a report that says oversight of the medical helicopter industry is lacking and that the vague role state, county, and federal agencies serve makes operations risky. It highlights nine crashes over a one-year period that killed 35 people, including the May 10, 2008 Medflight crash near La Crosse. Causes for that crash remain inconclusive.