Securing the airway is a rarely performed procedure in the out-of-hospital setting. In recent years evidence has been accumulated indicating that out-of-hospital airway management is more challenging as compared to elective situations even for experienced health care providers. Furthermore, several authors have questioned the benefit of out-of-hospital tracheal intubation. This review argues the problems regarding out-of-hospital airway management studies and discusses potential solutions which may improve out-of-hospital health care.