RE: Air ambulance
Its guys like those that give us in law enforcement all the stupid rules and regulations with the night vision problems we are having. A few medevac ships go down and the whole helicopter industry suffers.
What people dont realize is the medevac industry is very competitive and their is usually several different companies all competing for the same patient. Well car crashes happen in poor weather most of the time and helicopters have no business flying. Well hospitals will shop around medevac companies until they find one pilot dumb enough to try it.
MarcS lifting straight up in a helicopter is not optimal. You should stay in ground effect until you build up forward speed or you risk killing yourself in the event of an engine failure. Hovering out of ground effect is one of the most deadly things in a helicopter.