AircraftOwner Online

I am sitting in awe watching the heroic rescue of the trapped Chilean miners and my thoughts have turned to all of the heroic acts that aviators perform. Our aircraft, fixed wing and rotorcraft, give us amazing capabilities to do good. Hundreds of organizations around the globe, from non-profits like Civil Air Patrol, the Coast Guard Auxiliary, Angel Flight, Corporate Angel Network, Brothers to the Rescue, and Doctors Without Borders; to missionary flight departments in Africa, South America, the Orient and the Caribbean; to for-profit air ambulance companies and Medevac helicopter companies, exist for the sole purpose of helping others when disasters strike or when supplies are needed, and other modes of transportation just can’t supply the need. We are blessed both to have such services should we need them, and, as pilots, to be able to assist others through our participation and support of such services.

And yet, just within the past few weeks, the FAA has put new regulations in place which will cause those organizations to make harder choices, to invest money in new technology and training, and to coordinate more with the Federal Government when making these flights. It seems a little inconsistent – until you look at the underlying facts. A lot of people have been hurt and killed in accidents involving rescue and volunteer “missions”. Many pilots, especially those who are not professionally trained as rescue pilots, are willing to take risks in their flying simply because the circumstances surrounding the flying that they do are so “emergent”. As a former Angel Flight Pilot and as a former Civil Air Patrol Mission Pilot, I will admit that I have succumbed to that sense that the urgency of my “mission” justified departures from my ordinary practices when I knew that there was really no excuse for abandoning standard operating procedures, no matter how “emergent” the circumstances might have been.

In recent years, we have lost many people, pilots, medical aircrew, patients and family members. Many of the accidents that caused these deaths (and most of these accidents do tend to be multiple fatalities) were preventable had standard operating procedures been used. But, using the excuse of exigent circumstances, pilots have launched in aircraft that are not airworthy, or into meteorological conditions that exceeded the capabilities of their aircraft and/or their training, with less than adequate rest, with less than adequate planning; or other circumstances which, under other circumstances, they would have chosen not to accept. Once airborne, pilots have taken risks with weather, unfamiliar fields, previously-untried procedures, or other “heroics”, many times with fatal results. Of course, if the pilots get lucky and survive, bringing their passengers the life-saving care they require, they are often lauded in the press for their acts of heroism. Who among us would not like to be recognized publicly as a hero responsible for saving lives?

Unfortunately, in many instances what really happened is that the pilot took unnecessary chances with his or her own life, as well as the lives of others on board, by knowingly exceeding his or her own limitations and/or the limitations of the aircraft, all because of psychological motivations that he or she might not fully understand: the desire to be heroic, the desire to fly in a non-routine and exciting situation, the “knowledge” that violations of FARs or standard safety practices would be overlooked given the noble intent of the flight, the thought that just this one time it will probably work out alright, or other such mental gymnastics.

The true facts are that very few pilots are adequately trained and equipped to conduct real emergency operations. We see on television Coast Guard Helicopter crews that do the impossible and make it look like just another day at work. That is because, for them, and for their equipment, it IS just another day at work. These circumstances are precisely what they train for. They fly practice emergency missions every single day. How many of do that? They have developed specialized crew coordination procedures. How many of us have? Even they have strict rules and standard operating procedures that they follow religiously, even if it means leaving an injured person un-rescued because the risk to the crew is simply too great. How many of us are psychologically prepared to make those kinds of choices?

Going back to the rescue of the Chilean miners, the press has reported on the massive influx of technical expertise from around the world, and on the painstaking efforts to train, rehearse and prepare for the rescues. The fact that the teams had over two months to consider the possible problems and to address each one of them, along with several weeks to actually communicate with the trapped miners and to provide them with materials, counseling, medical and psychological assistance, did nothing to make the event any less heroic or spellbinding. It did, however, prevent it from ending in catastrophe, when all the hopes and dreams for a happy ending by people around the world would be dashed.

The new FAA regulations on Air Ambulances and Medivac operations appear to be required, since our ability to focus honestly on our own limitations and those of the aircraft we fly seem to be too easily subordinated behind our genuine desires to use our talents and our aircraft for good and noble purposes. I would urge every pilot to participate in some way in the various humanitarian organizations that utilize pilots and aircraft, including those listed above. But, when you do so, do so with an honest appraisal of your own limitations and those of your aircraft. Learn to ignore the voice that tells you that the effort to save or assist another human being gives you license to fly in ways you have never tried before, or in circumstances with which you have never dealt previously. If you can honestly undertake a mission of mercy that is within your limitations and those of your aircraft, by all means do so – it is a wonderful feeling to complete such a mission successfully and to know that you used your skills to help others. But if you cannot honestly say that the mission is within your capabilities or those of your aircraft, work to get properly-trained and equipped people to do that particular rescue. I can’t imagine a worse feeling than knowing as you are about to crash that you not only did not complete your mercy mission, but that you killed a patient, a family member and medical personnel all of whom were relying upon you to keep them safe.