The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a final Helicopter EMS (HEMS rule) in February 2014 and subsequently Congress passed the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 (FMRA). In light of these efforts, the Ranking Member of the House Aviation Subcommittee requested that the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) review FAA’s progress in improving air ambulance safety.

The results of this investigation, OIG Audit Report: Delays in Meeting Statutory Requirements and Oversight Challenges Reduce FAA’s Opportunities To Enhance HEMS Safety (AV-2015-039), is now available. The audit concludes that …”continued delays in finalizing the remaining mandates affect FAA’s ability to focus its accident reduction efforts and limit the effectiveness of safety initiatives.

Additionally, until FAA updates key oversight policies and obtains meaningful safety data to analyze for trends, it will not be well positioned to effectively oversee a rapidly expanding HEMS industry.” Read more here.