II 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3229 

To increase the safety of the crew and passengers in air ambulances. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 8, 2008 

Ms. CANTWELL introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To increase the safety of the crew and passengers in air 

ambulances. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Air Medical Service 

5 Safety Improvement Act of 2008’’. 

6 SEC. 2. INCREASING SAFETY FOR HELICOPTER AND FIXED 

7 WING EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICE OPER8 ATORS AND PATIENTS. 

9 (a) COMPLIANCE REGULATIONS.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para11 graph (2), not later than 18 months after the date 


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1 of the enactment of this Act, all pilots of a heli2 copter or fixed wing aircraft providing emergency 

3 medical services shall comply with part 135 of title 

4 14, Code of Federal Regulations, if there is a med5 ical crew on board, without regard to whether there 

6 are patients on board. 

7 (2) EXCEPTION.—If an aircraft described in 

8 paragraph (1) is operating under instrument flight 

9 rules or is carrying out training therefor— 

10 (A) the weather minimums and duty and 

11 rest time regulations under such part 135 of 

12 such title shall apply; and 

13 (B) the weather reporting requirement at 

14 the destination shall not apply until such time 

15 as the Administrator of the Federal Aviation 

16 Administration determines that suitable, cost17 effective, portable, and accurate ground-based 

18 weather measuring and reporting systems are 

19 available. 

20 (b) IMPLEMENTATION OF FLIGHT RISK EVALUATION

21 PROGRAM.— 

22 (1) INITIATION.—Not later than 60 days after 

23 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Adminis24 trator of the Federal Aviation Administration shall 

25 initiate a rulemaking— 


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1 (A) to create a standardized checklist of 

2 risk evaluation factors based on Notice 

3 8000.301, which was issued by the Administra4 tion on August 1, 2005; and 

5 (B) to require helicopter and fixed wing 

6 aircraft emergency medical service operators to 

7 use the checklist created under subparagraph 

8 (A) to determine whether a mission should be 

9 accepted. 

10 (2) COMPLETION.—The rulemaking initiated 

11 under paragraph (1) shall be completed not later 

12 than 18 months after it such initiation. 

13 (c) COMPREHENSIVE CONSISTENT FLIGHT DIS14 PATCH PROCEDURES.— 

15 (1) INITIATION.—Not later than 60 days after 

16 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Adminis17 trator of the Federal Aviation Administration shall 

18 initiate a rulemaking— 

19 (A) to require that helicopter and fixed 

20 wing emergency medical service operators for21 malize and implement performance based flight 

22 dispatch and flight-following procedures; and 

23 (B) to develop a method to assess and en24 sure that such operators comply with the re25 quirements described in subparagraph (A). 


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1 (2) COMPLETION.—The rulemaking initiated 

2 under paragraph (1) shall be completed not later 

3 than 18 months after it such initiation. 

4 (d) IMPROVING SITUATIONAL AWARENESS.—Any 

5 helicopter or fixed-wing aircraft used for emergency med6 ical service operations that is ordered after the date of 

7 the enactment of this Act shall have on board a device 

8 that performs the function of a terrain awareness and 

9 warning system that meets the requirements of the appli10 cable Federal Aviation Administration Technical Standard 

11 Order or other guidance prescribed by the Administration. 

12 (e) IMPROVING THE DATA AVAILABLE TO NTSB IN13 VESTIGATORS AT CRASH SITES.— 

14 (1) STUDY.—Not later than 120 days after the 

15 date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator of 

16 the Federal Aviation Administration shall issue a re17 port that indicates the availability, survivability, size, 

18 weight, and cost of devices that perform the function 

19 of recording voice communications and flight data 

20 information on existing and new helicopters and ex21 isting and new fixed wing aircraft used for emer22 gency medical service operations. 

23 (2) RULEMAKING.—Not later than 1 year after 

24 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Adminis25 trator of the Federal Aviation Administration shall 


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1 issue regulations that require devices that perform 

2 the function of recording voice communications and 

3 flight data information on board aircraft described 

4 in paragraph (1). 

Æ 


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