Alexandria, VA, February 28, 2011 — The Flight Safety Foundation announces today that it has named Bob Whetsell to be the new project leader on its helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS) project. Bob is the Vice President of Sales at Aerobytes LTD, the UK-based supplier of FDM/FOQA software and services.
“Our HEMS project will ultimately result in important improvement in the safety of the helicopter EMS industry,” said William R. Voss, President and CEO of the Flight Safety Foundation. “We’re very pleased that Bob has agreed to take on this responsibility as the project leader. He is a real expert in the field and will help lead this project onto success.”
The Flight Safety Foundation HEMS project launched in 2009 with a grant provided to the Foundation from the estate of the late Manuel Maciel in order to study flight operations quality assurance in HEMS. The Foundation will conduct a pilot program on flight data management to determine if this technology could be used to improve safety in HEMS.
“The success of this study is directly linked to the amazing support we’re getting from our corporate partners, including Aerobytes, Air Methods, L3 Communications, OPEIU, and Appareo,” Voss continued. “With all the pieces now in place, we can start the data collection and come up with usable results and recommendations in 2012.”
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Flight Safety Foundation is an independent, non-profit, international organization engaged in research, auditing, education, advocacy and publishing to improve aviation safety. The Foundation’s mission is to pursue the continuous improvement of global aviation safety and the prevention of accidents. Follow us on Twitter @flightsafety and at facebook.com/flightsafetyfoundation.
Contact: Emily McGee, Director of Communications, 1-703-739-6700, ext. 126; mcgee@flightsafety.org