Matt Thurber, editor-in-chief at AIN Media Group, has been flying since 1975 and writing about aviation since 1978 and now has the best job in the world, running editorial operations for Aviation International News, Business Jet Traveler, and FutureFlight.aero. In addition to working as an A&amp;P mechanic on everything from Piper Cubs to turboprops, Matt taught flying at his father’s flight school in Plymouth, Mass., in the early 1980s, flew for an aircraft owner/pilot, and for two summer seasons hunted swordfish near the George’s Banks off the East Coast from a Piper Super Cub. An ATP certificated fixed-wing pilot and CFII and commercial helicopter pilot, Matt is type-rated in the Citation 500 and Gulfstream V/550. Based in the Pacific Northwest, Matt and his team cover the entire aviation scene including business aircraft, helicopters, avionics, safety, manufacturing, charter, fractionals, technology, air transport, advanced air mobility, defense, and other subjects of interest to AIN, BJT, and FutureFlight readers.

Editor-in-Chief

Matt Thurber

During 2023, the 65 certificate-holding operators that <a href="https://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/avs/offices/afx/afs/afs200/301_HAA_Data.pdf">reported</a> helicopter air ambulance (HAA) operations to the FAA flew 528,313 hours, including 8,198 under instrument flight rules (2%) and 226,218 (42%) at night.
Six accidents were reported by five HAA operators. Two of the accidents resulted in fatalities and three had injuries. According to the FAA, “The overall accident rate for HAA during [calendar year] 2023 was 1.14 per 100,000 flight hours. The fatal accident rate for HAA during 2023 was .57 accidents per 100,000 flight hours.”
There were 1,315 helicopters operated for HAA services in 2023 from 1,021 base locations. Of the 65 operators, 51 operated one to nine helicopters; seven from 10 to 99; and five more than 100. Two did not have helicopters available for HAA during 2023, the FAA noted.
During 2023, 385,366 patients were transported via HAA. Of the 272,867 scene requests received, the majority (143,281) were declined while 129,586 were accepted. Inter-facility requests had a higher rate of acceptance with 287,906 versus 170,961 declined. Organ transport requests saw the highest acceptance rate at 92% (1,177) versus 8% declined (97).
“The 65 reporting operators cited zero incidents in which a helicopter was not directly dispatched and arrived to transport patients but was not utilized for patient transport,” according to the FAA.

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