EMS helicopter crashes, over last year

With the latest emergency-medical-helicopter-services (EMS) copter crash in Maryland, the US is up to eight fatal EMS crashes over the last year, with a death toll of about thirty crew and PAX.

There was a similar wave of EMS copter crashes in the mid 1980s, culminating in a special report by the NTSB, some fixes, and a temporary drop in the crash rate. Now the problem is back.

What do readers think about this trend? Have you been on an EMS evacuation flight and what did you think about it?

Or if interested in helicopters generally, post on author chat at The God Machine: From Boomerangs to Black Hawks, the Story of the Helicopter

I've not ever been on (or in) an EMS evacuation. The closest I've come was seeing helicopters take off from local hospitals a couple of times to airlift from one hospital to another. Which doesn't compare at all.

I'm sure I'll learn more about this as I read The God Machine.

Due to an unfortunate event I recently found myself in the ICU waiting area watching the helicopter EMS teams taking off and landing on the roof....for days. They have to come and go far too often. I work with some regular EMS folks, but the helicopter service was especially impressive since this was at a regional trauma center and they bring in the worst of the worst for several hundred miles around. Besides being professional, they had stylishly cool uniforms too and looked like they just stepped out of a movie set. When the object of all our attention was coherent enough to ask how her first helicopter flight was she said, "I don't know, all I could see was the ceiling."