WASHINGTON — The National Transportation Safety Board on Tuesday urged the government to impose stricter controls on emergency helicopter operators, including requiring the use of autopilots, night-vision systems and flight-data recorders in an industry that suffered a record number of fatalities last year.
The NTSB recommendations for training and safety equipment to the Federal Aviation Administration are in addition to others made in 2006, requiring installation of terrain-awareness monitoring to help pilots navigate when weather conditions are poor.
The safety board, which cannot require such changes, also wants the Health and Human Services Department to require emergency helicopter operators to meet safety standards before receiving Medicare payments for medical flights.
