A voluntary community safety project assessing emergency medical readiness at general aviation fixed base operators.
The Aviation Medical Readiness Initiative is a community safety project run through Heartland Lift. We visit fixed base operators — FBOs — at general aviation airports to assess basic emergency readiness through a short, voluntary conversation with facility staff. We look at things like whether an AED is on site, whether staff knows where it is and how to use it, whether a written emergency plan exists, and whether EMS can access the ramp if needed. The process takes about 10 to 15 minutes per facility. There is no inspection, no certification, no regulatory involvement, and no affiliation with the FAA or any authority. Participation is completely voluntary. Data is collected anonymously — findings are reported in aggregate only, with no facility names published without permission.
General aviation pilots are an aging population. According to the FAA's 2022 Aerospace Medical Certification Statistical Handbook, the most commonly reported medical condition among certificated pilots is hypertension treated with medication. Published research has identified myocardial infarctions and cardiac arrhythmias as the leading causes of in-flight medical incapacitation in pilots (DeJohn et al., Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine, 2006). Pilots experiencing a cardiac event on the ground — at an FBO, on the ramp, or in the terminal — are just as dependent on bystander response and available equipment as any member of the public.
There are more than 357,000 EMS-assessed out-of-hospital cardiac arrests in the United States every year, and nearly 90 percent are fatal (American Heart Association). Survival chances decrease by approximately 10 percent for every minute that CPR and AED use are delayed (American Red Cross, CARES 2024 Annual Report). When bystanders use an AED before EMS arrives, patients are more than two and a half times as likely to survive (American Heart Association). Despite this, bystander AED use occurs in only 12.6 percent of public cardiac arrests nationally (CARES 2024 Annual Report).
Unlike commercial airports, general aviation FBOs have no regulatory requirement for AED programs, staff CPR training, written emergency action plans, or EMS access coordination. There is no published research assessing emergency medical readiness at the FBO level. EMS access to airport ramps presents unique challenges — gate codes, escort requirements, and physical access barriers — that have no equivalent in other public venue settings. This initiative exists to document that gap for the first time.
Presence, number, location, accessibility, and physical condition of AED units including inspection records and consumable expiration status.
Visibility of signage from the lobby, distance from signage to unit, and whether signage is obstructed.
Whether any staff are CPR or AED certified, recency of training, and whether a designated AED-responsible person exists.
Whether a written emergency action plan exists, whether staff can describe what to do in a medical emergency, and awareness of nearest hospital.
Whether EMS can access the ramp independently, whether staff knows the access procedure, and whether formal coordination with local EMS has occurred.
Facility type, estimated traffic volume, and staff awareness of pilot cardiovascular risk as a recognized medical concern.
Every site visit follows a fixed five-step standardized protocol. Before arriving, facility information is gathered and pre-visit fields are completed. Upon entering, the assessor delivers a standardized introduction script verbatim. Step one is a lobby observation conducted from a fixed defined position — recording only what is directly visible without staff guidance. That data is locked and cannot be changed based on anything learned later in the visit. Step two is a physical AED verification where the assessor personally walks to the unit, reads the inspection tag, and records pad and battery expiration dates directly from the device. Step three is a structured verbal interview using scripted questions asked in the same fixed order at every facility. Step four is a post-visit public records lookup to verify facility square footage, airport data, and EMS response time from verifiable sources.
Data is organized into three tiers. Tier 1 is hard objective data — what the assessor personally observes or reads from a physical document or public record. Tier 2 is soft objective data — factual answers provided by staff that are recorded exactly as stated. Tier 3 is subjective assessor notes kept entirely separate from primary data and excluded from analysis. This three-tier structure allows the dataset to be analyzed at different levels of confidence and allows future assessors to replicate the protocol identically.
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Facilities Contacted
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Visits Completed
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Midwest Airports Represented
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Data Points Collected
Preliminary findings will be posted here once sufficient data has been collected. Check back for updates.
Participation is completely voluntary and takes approximately 10 to 15 minutes. There is no inspection, no certification, no regulatory involvement, and no affiliation with the FAA or any authority. You will know exactly what we are asking before we arrive — the full assessment instrument is available for download above. After your visit, you can optionally receive a brief written summary with any suggestions relevant to your facility. Findings are published in aggregate only — no facility names are shared without permission. If you manage or work at a general aviation FBO and would like to participate, or if you have questions about the initiative, reach out below.
Contact Heartland Lift