Safety Record of Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS)

The use of helicopters in the Emergency Medical Services role expanded exponentially during the 1970s and 1980s.  In 1980 there were 32 companies or public use agencies providing aeromedical evacuation services in the United States; by 1990 there were 172 such programs.  The drastic expansion brought with it dramatic increases in the accident rate of Helicopter Emergency Medical Services.  Accidents among HEMS operators tripled during the mid-1980s, prompting more attention to safety programs.  The accident rate increased again in the late-1990s, once again bringing industry and governmental attention to the safety issues within HEMS.  Like many aviation sectors, most safety issues within the HEMS industry are related to a combination of weather and human factors.  The aviation industry and the Federal government have worked to improve HEMS safety in the last decade, resulting in a HEMS accident rate consistently below that of the general aviation community and the helicopter industry as a whole for the last decade.