The Helicopter Emergency Medical Service Provider (HEMS) community took a significant step forward in its effort to improve operational safety as a Little Rock, Ark. hospital received the FAA's approval for its flight data monitoring (FDM) and Flight Operational Quality Assurance (FOQA) program. Recorders installed aboard the Angel One Transport fleet of two Sikorsky S-76 C+ HEMS aircraft dedicated to serving Arkansas Children's Hospital (ACH) will gather data to be analyzed by a third-party contractor. The ACH says it is the nation's first HEMS organization to achieve FAA approval.



(photo courtesy ACH) Arkansas Childrens Hospital will capture flight data on its Angel One fleet of two Sikorsky S-76 C+ aircraft under an FAA-approved FDM/FOQA program.

The hospital selected CAPACG, LLC of Daytona Beach, Fla. as system integrator and safety consultant to design and launch the program. The fleet operator chose the Appareo Systems ALERTS (Aircraft Logging and Event Recording for Training and Safety, a lightweight, low-cost data recording system that requires only a form 337, not an STC, to be installed aboard the aircraft. (CAPACG earlier teamed with Alakai Technologies of Hopkinton, Mass. to equip Cirrus SR22 aircraft with FDM equipment in support of SATSair, an air taxi firm that recently suspended operations.)

CAPACG is also teamed with Baldwin Aviation, a Hilton Head, S.C. consulting firm that advises operators on safety management systems. ACH utilizes Baldwin's SMSplus safety management system, which will be combined with the approved FDM program to provide an on-line safety management tool

In a release, Appareo explained that FAA approval of a program "allows the operator to work more collaboratively with federal flight safety regulators in evaluating and, if necessary, remediating flight safety issues and concerns." What the company did not explain is that many pilot organizations and flight crews generally have been wary of FDM/FOQA programs as electronic fingers pointing at those to blame for incidents. For that reason, FDM data is presented in a de-identified format.