[smokingfrog]

The move to tie Medicare reimbursements to safety standards is a new approach by the NTSB. Oh what a tangled web we weave. The idea of having an autopilot on a medivac chopper doesn't make much sense to me, but some of the other stuff does. That being said, it probably won't make much difference safety-wise. The better equipped they are, the more chances they will take going out to rescue someone when they might not have done so other wise. Bottom line - you make things more expensive.

[smokingfrog]

Preview is your friend.

[Ronin]

The more expensive you make them, the less likely it is that there is going to be one available when it is needed.

Furthermore, the more gadgets you add to a machine, the more likely it is that one of those gadgets is going to be non-operational when the machine is needed.

The original medevac helicopters were just Bell H-13s with a couple of stretchers bolted over the skids. Primitive, but they worked — and they saved a lot of lives during the Korean conflict.

Rather than adding more regulations, the government should just stay the hell out of the way.