National Transportation Safety Board asking Federal Aviation Administration for safety requirements for medical helicopters

The National Transportation Safety Board is calling on the Federal Aviation Administration to issue more safety requirements for medical helicopters.

Duke University Medical Center has two emergency medical transport helicopters.

Duke Life Flight has been in operation for 32 years. The most recent crash before Friday’s fatal accident was in 1999.

CBS North Carolina pulled crash data from the National Transportation Safety Board. The agency says it’s had a long standing concern for medical helicopter safety.

Here is the number of Helicopter Emergency Medical Services crashes in the past couple of years.

The NTSB has been asking the FAA for better safety requirements since 1988, then again in 2006 and again in 2009.

This includes requiring night vision systems and better training for pilots.

Last year, the chairman of the NTSB wrote an article saying safety for these helicopters have improved but much more is needed.

You can read that report here.

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