Mercy Flight of Oregon was fined $30,000 by the US Department of Transportation (DOT) today for using the pronoun 'our' in describing a helicopter it operates. The DOT stated that the not-for profit organization was in violation of laws that prohibit deceptive practices in the sales of air transportation by using personal pronouns.
Mercy Flight is one of the oldest aviation medical services organizations founded in 1949. They provide both airplane and helicopter flights for medical transport as well as ground ambulances for patient transfers. The air services have transported more than 12,000 patients and their ground ambulances carry over 18,000 patients per year, according to their website.
The DOT stated that Mercy Flight's comment on their website 'our Emergency Medical Transport Helicopter Ambulance serves Southern Oregon ... and Northern California' as well as reported comments in a newsletter state 'our helicopter' were in violation of the laws regarding deceptive advertising practices.
The helicopter in question was actually owned by BTS LLC and leased for operation by Mercy Flights. Since Mercy Flights does not directly own the helicopter they cannot claim the helicopter as their own by using any possessive pronouns. The laws apply to any aircraft that maintains an FAA registration.
According to the DOT, the fine will be decreased by $15,000 if it avoids any further violations over the next 12 months.
(see Chicago General Aviation Examiner and National General Aviation Examiner for additional articles on General Aviation)
Comments
What a load of crap! Mercy Flight is a not-for-profit organization that transports ill people so they can receive care. So now they will have to pass on $15-30k in fines to is passengers because they some PR person used the wrong pronoun. LAME! Does the DOT really have nothing better to do? Maybe if they quit paying so much attention to advertisements, they could find time to fix OUR bridges.
Got something to say?
Examiner.com is looking for writers, photographers, and videographers to join the fastest growing group of local insiders. If you are interested in growing your online rep apply to be an Examiner today!