Hawaii Air Ambulance Passes Inspection, Put Back in Service
HONOLULU — Hawaii Air Ambulance (HAA) is ready to fly interisland aeromedical missions aboard its own aircraft again as of April 7 after the first of its four planes completed voluntary inspections. Our pilots, medical staff and crews are happy to have a Hawaii Air Ambulance plane in the air again and eager to continue full aeromedical service once all of our planes have completed the voluntary inspections.Hawaii Air Ambulance has provided air ambulatory service to the people of Hawaii for 27 years.
Unlike others who have come and gone, we remain committed to our mission. We consider our work to be a calling to help others. We will continue that work in the memory of those we have recently lost.
On the day after the tragic March 8 crash of an HAA plane on Maui, HAA decided to ground and put its four remaining twin-engine, pressurized, fixed-wing Cessna 414A aircraft through voluntary but extremely extensive inspections to reassure its crews and the public that HAA planes are airworthy.
Conducted by an outside company, the remaining inspections are ongoing and taking much longer than HAA previously anticipated because of their absolute thoroughness, including a teardown of each aircraft and an FAA base inspection.
The inspection on the passed aircraft found nothing out of the ordinary. In addition, the FAA conducted a review of all HAA pilots, who are cleared to fly. We are doing everything we can to facilitate the completion of the remaining voluntary inspections while balancing that with the importance of giving the inspectors all the time they require. The inspections are too important to rush. We are also fully cooperating with the National Transportation Safety Board’s ongoing investigation into the March 8 tragedy. Our company is an open book to the NTSB and FAA. Until the remaining aircraft inspections are complete, HAA crews will fly the one inspected aircraft while continuing to have HAA staff fly as volunteers with the U.S. Coast Guard and HAA nurses escort non-critical patients aboard commercial and chartered flights. Last year, HAA flew an average of 200 missions per month.
Hawaii Air Ambulance, fully accredited by the Commission of Accreditation of Medical Transport Systems (CAMTS), has been serving the needs of Hawaii residents since 1979, providing emergency interisland transportation of over 37,000 serious injured and critically ill patients within the state. Headquartered at Honolulu International Airport and staffed around the clock, HAA utilizes its team of pilots, physicians, flight nurses, flight medical, mechanics and administrative personnel. For more information, visit HAA’s web site at http://hiairamb.com.
