Providing Go/No-Go Weather Information to Air Ambulance Pilots

Challenge

In 2006, the FAA required a review of rescue helicopter crashes. The review revealed that a lack of detailed weather information was often a factor.

Solution

Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS)

The HEMS tool is an extension of NCAR’s Aviation Digital Data Service (ADDS) which provides pilots easy-to-use web access to a variety of critical aviation weather information, such as ceiling, visibility, flight category, winds, icing severity, relative humidity, temperature, radar, satellite, etc.

Benefits

The HEMS tool became operational at the Aviation Weather Center in 2015. User reports showed ambulance pilots rely on the HEMS tool to make quick, life-saving decisions.

Contact

Please direct questions/comments about this page to:

Arnaud Dumont

Deputy Director Engineering, Aviation Applications Program

email