FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 29, 2006

For More Information, Contact:
Stacey Eachus Friedman
(916) 984-9646
(916) 425-3113 cell
staceyfriedman@comcast.net

FAMILY STILL SEARCHING FOR ANSWERS IN DEATH OF AIRLIFT NORTWHEST FLIGHT NURSE ERIN REED

The family of Flight Nurse Erin Eachus Reed is still searching for answers in the tragic death of their daughter and sister one year following the crash of an Airlift Northwest (ALNW) air ambulance on September 29, 2005 that went down in Puget Sound, near Edmonds, Washington. This was the second such fatal crash for ALNW.

The accident, which remains under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board, also killed pilot Steve Smith, and fellow flight nurse Lois Suzuki. With little answers as to why the crash occurred, the family continues to advocate for improved air ambulance safety, specifically supporting the recommendations made by the NTSB in their special investigation on the safety of the air medical services industry released in January 2006. See www.ntsg.gov for the full report.

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While the FAA and industry groups have publicly rejected the NTSB’s safety recommendations, the family continues to work with Congress for more effective regulation of emergency medical services (EMS) flights. Specifically, Reed’s family urges support for the NTSB’s top recommendation that all air ambulance operators fly under the safer rules of FAR Part 135. Reed, Smith and Suzuki along with two-thirds of air ambulance flight crew members killed in the past three years died while flying under the less stringent rules of Part 91 which requires lower weather minimums and crew rest standards than Part 135. In fact many air ambulance operators throughout the country voluntarily fly Part 135 all the time as part of their overall safety culture. Many of these programs have never had an accident in the history of their operation.