CEO: D.C. HealthNet’s ‘most complex airspace’

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) - Every day, HealthNet helicopters serve as a lifeline for critically ill patients across West Virginia.

That includes the state’s Eastern Panhandle, where four pilots fly missions from HealthNet’s base in Martinsburg. They routinely fly to hospitals in Washington, D.C., taking their helicopters through the same airspace where a Blackhawk helicopter collided Wednesday with American Airlines Flight 5342.

“It is undoubtedly the most complex airspace that HealthNet Areomedical Services aircraft operate in,” said Clinton Burley, HealthNet’s president and chief executive officer.

Burley says only pre-approved pilots and pre-approved helicopters may enter the D.C. Metro airspace, and even then they must notify the Federal Aviation Administration for each specific mission. Only then, does air traffic control give the HealthNet pilot a specific, low-level route with exact points in space for the helicopter to follow.

“While it is fairly routine for you guys to fly into D.C., flying into D.C. is not ordinary?” WSAZ reporter Curtis Johnson asked.

“It’s very unique in HealthNet’s operation,” Burley replied. “For example, in the Huntington-Charleston area, we can overfly any area at any time, so long as we’re talking to air traffic control for coordination. It is not that way in Washington, D.C.”

Burley says those regulations protect sensitive areas of D.C., while providing separation between helicopters and the large number of commercial flights that use Reagan National Airport.

“You combine that with the amount of military traffic, and you’ve got a very complex air traffic control system,” he said.

Burley believes HealthNet pilots understand those complexities and it becomes part of their skill set.

Still yet, the CEO met with those pilots hours after Wednesday’s crash, reinforcing Thursday HealthNet’s standard that crew and pilot safety is paramount.

“Clearly something failed in the fail safes that are put in place for flights in that area,” he said.

Burley believes that answer is many months away.

As for himself, Burley says he has flown from Charleston to Reagan National multiple times on the CRJ-700 jet, the same type of plane that crashed into the Potomac River. He says Wednesday’s crash does not shake his confidence in the system, its airlines and all of the protections designed to keep you safe.