NEMSPA

In the news: the story never told! 

In the news today, it was reported that several hundred medical helicopter flights were conducted without incident. Hundreds of lives were saved because these aircrews picked up their patients and returned safely to their bases. Several flights never got off the ground, some as a result of a maintenance problem that was discovered by a pilot doing a thorough preflight inspection or a mechanic grounding the aircraft because something wasn't quite right. Several other flights didn't get off the ground because the weather was either marginal or unsafe for flight. A few flights launched but had to turn around because the conditions for flight were deteriorating, and the crew opted to return to base. A couple of aircraft experienced maintenance problems during flight, but thanks to skilled aircrews, there was no injury or further damage to any aircraft.

Has anyone ever seen or heard a news story like that? I haven't, and I would be very surprised if anyone else has. The news stories we do hear are the ones of tragedy. We hear the stories about aircrews taking off in bad weather and crashing. We hear of catastrophic mechanical failures. During these news reports of tragedy, reporters usually remind us that 80% of crashes are caused by human error. Reporters reveal that, in crashes that have survivors, someone on the flight knew something was wrong and didn't say anything. The benefit versus the risk of using air ambulance services is always brought up. That is how the news business operates.

On another level we seem to operate the same way. I don't remember that much about physics, but it seems that news, either good or bad, should travel at the same speed. It doesn't! Good news seems to travel at a snail's pace, while bad news moves closer to the speed of light. Recognition of those doing the right thing tends to be slow or nonexistent, but get caught doing the wrong thing and see how fast word gets out.

We need to shift our focus from the negative to the positive. That is not to say we should let bad habits continue or that we shouldn't look at accidents and incidents with a critical eye. We certainly can learn from our mistakes. However, we need to start looking at and acknowledging those people who are doing things right. While we obviously still need to look at causes of accidents, we should look at the factors of successful missions.

We need to recognize, in a positive fashion, the actions of individual crewmembers who point out valid safety concerns, such as the nurse who hears something in the aircraft he or she has never heard before and brings it to the attention of the pilot. Or the person who is constantly beating on management, regardless of how many times he or she is shot down, about getting a policy changed, a new piece of equipment, or something else that will enhance safe operations. We need to laud those people who speak out knowing there is a possibility they will appear “chicken” or ignorant.

Part of the problem we have is the routine. Many of our missions are a repeat of things we've done a hundred times before. When things happen outside the norm, it is pretty easy to pick the incident apart and either affix blame or pile on accolades. The routine mission makes awareness difficult because everything has been said and done before. Most of the programs I am familiar with require all flights to be debriefed. If everything goes well on the flight, there isn't much said.

I don't think there is such a thing as a routine mission. We do tend, however, to treat most of our missions that way. Maybe we should start picking apart those missions we've done a hundred times by looking at ourselves as individuals, as team members, and as flight programs and analyze what we do right on each mission. The things we do wrong are usually evident, and we will hear about it. The challenge is to bring up the “right stuff” and keep it in focus.

Although I really would like to tune in to CNN or FOX News and see a story like the one I started with, I don't think it's going to happen in my lifetime. We will be in the news only when one of our missions ends in tragedy. I really would like to go through the rest of my life never seeing another story of an air ambulance crashing. Yes, I know that, too, is probably not going to happen, but it is certainly worth working toward that goal. Fly safe.