[Scan-DC] Helicopter EMS industry facing another troubling year

[Alan Henney]

Air Safety Week

August 9, 2010 Monday

Warning: HEMS Flights May Be Hazardous to Your Health

SECTION: Vol. 24 No. 31

LENGTH: 1902 words

The U.S. helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS) industry may be

facing another troubling year, as the number of fatal accidents is again on the

rise after scoring a remarkably safe year in 2009.

For the HEMS industry, 2008 was the deadliest year on record with eight

fatal accidents totaling 29 fatalities, earning the sector a spot on the NTSB's

Most Wanted List of Transportation Safety Improvements.

But in the following year, there was only one fatal HEMS accident. On 

Sept. 25, a Eurocopter AS-350 B2 (N417AE) helicopter EMS (HEMS) crashed near

Georgetown, SC during a positioning flight after dropping off a patient in

Charleston about two hours earlier. All three people on board---the pilot,

flight nurse and paramedic---were killed.

At mid-year 2010 the tally for the HEMS industry is four fatal accidents

with ten fatalities. In addition, there were at least two HEMS incidents without

loss or life.

In the latest HEMS accident, An EagleMed Eurocopter AS350 AStar went down

in central Oklahoma July 22, resulting in the deaths of the pilot Al Harrison

and a flight nurse. Another nurse/paramedic survived the crash with serious

injuries. EagleMed is headquartered in Wichita, KS.

The helicopter was flying from Integris Baptist Medical Center in

Oklahoma City to a hospital around 90 miles away in Okeene to pick up a patient,

but it crashed around 8:00 p.m. in a field near Kingfisher, about 50 miles

northwest of Oklahoma City, according to the FAA.

According to local newspaper reports, Kingfisher Mayor Jack Stuteville,

who owns property near the crash site, was among the first on the scene. He said

a man working on the land called him and told him he'd just seen a helicopter

spin, then hit the ground.

"By the time I got there it was already burned to pieces. The bodies were

charred beyond recognition. It was bad," Stuteville said. "There was one guy

that survived, and it kind of looked like he crawled. It looked like he must

have been thrown out. It was probably 50 yards from the helicopter. I don't know

how he got over there, but the sheriff's office was right behind me, and they

saw him wave, and they went over there and the ambulance was right there. And

they got him stabilized and medevaced him out," Stuteville said.

Prior to the Oklahoma HEMS crash, the NTSB released a preliminary report

that says witnesses saw the tail boom and the main rotor system separate from a

CareFlite-operated Bell 222U (N515MK) that crashed June 2 near Midlothian, TX,

killing the pilot and a company mechanic.

The emergency medical services (EMS) helicopter, which had taken off from

Grand Prairie Municipal Airport (GPM) on a routine post-maintenance flight, was

600 feet agl when the in-flight breakup occurred.

Visual meteorological conditions (VMC) prevailed at the time of the

accident and a company flight plan had been filed for the return-to-service

flight following maintenance that had been performed.

According to the NTSB report, "several witnesses saw the tail boom and

the main rotor system separate from the helicopter. The fuselage was destroyed

in an immediate post-impact fire. The main rotor mast separated just below the

head. The main rotor system including the hub and blade assembly, pitch change

links, and walking beam assembly remained connected to the swash plate assembly

and impacted terrain approximately 200 feet northeast of the main wreckage. The

entire tail boom assembly separated just aft of the fuselage and impacted

terrain approximately 400 feet northeast of the main wreckage.

The wreckage was removed to a secure storage facility for continued

investigation."

According to Tom Latson, an NTSB investigator, CareFlite mechanics

replaced key components the rotor system just prior to the helicopter taking off

from Grand Prairie Municipal Airport (GPM). The pilot and mechanic had departed

GPM, crashing about 24 miles from the airport.

CareFlite acquired the helicopter from Omniflight recently and was

performing required maintenance before putting it in operation. In a statement,

Omniflight said the Bell 222 was in airworthy condition at the time of the sale.

Dennis Lauterbach, owner of Quality Aircraft, flew to the crash site

after hearing about the accident on his police scanner. "The tail boom and main

rotor were separated from the wreckage, and the whole thing was on fire,"

Lauterbach said. "We didn't need the address. We could see the smoke from where

we were."

CareFlite provides medical air transportation services across North Texas

and employs 30 pilots, Swartz said. The Bell chopper that crashed was built in

1983 and was purchased by CareFlite in April. The pilot and mechanic were

performing a maintenance check flight to prepare the aircraft for an FAA

inspection.

The NTSB continues to probe the March 25 fatal crash of an EMS helicopter

in Brownsville, TN, about 55 miles northeast of Memphis. Three crewmembers were

killed in that accident. There was no patient onboard at the time of the crash.

The EUROCOPTER AS-350-B3 (N855HW) crashed in a field during a rainstorm

in western Tennessee on a return trip from delivering a patient. The chopper

had flown a patient from Parsons to Jackson-Madison County General Hospital and

was returning to its base in Brownsville when it went down a few miles from its

destination. "The pilot was not in contact with air traffic controllers at the

time of the crash and there had been no indication of problems," said an FAA

spokesman.

In a preliminary report released April 12, the NTSB revealed that the

pilot was trying to "beat a storm" back to home base.

According to a fellow EMS pilot starting his shift, it was dark and

cloudy when he arrived at TN99, with light rain. When he entered the hangar, he

noticed that the accident helicopter was gone. He was concerned about the

weather and called MEDCOM, a flight following center, to locate the helicopter,

which was then on the pad at TN05.

After hanging up with MEDCOM, the accident pilot called the oncoming

pilot via cell phone, and asked about the weather, as there was a small shower

between Jackson and Brownsville. The accident pilot stated that "he wanted to

get the helicopter out," and the oncoming pilot asked, "Can you park it?" The

accident pilot then responded that another helicopter already occupied the lower

elevation pad, which the oncoming pilot took to mean that the accident pilot

didn't want to leave the helicopter on the hospital's elevated pad.

The two pilots further discussed the weather, and the oncoming pilot

noted, from a computer-based radar depiction, that there was a front coming from

the Memphis area at a speed of about 25 miles per hour. At the time, the radar

was depicting "red" over Memphis, and "yellow" extending about 10 miles out.

"The accident pilot then stated that he figured he had about 18 minutes

to get the helicopter back to base, to beat the storm," the NTSB's preliminary

accident report states.

The flight was operated by Hospital Wing, a nonprofit air medical

transport service with headquarters in Memphis and branches in Oxford, MS and

Brownsville. It operates five helicopters. The branch in Brownsville opened in

2004 serving 26 counties in Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas, the company Web

site says.

A pilot and two paramedics aboard an EMS helicopter were killed when

their aircraft crashed on Feb. 5 near El Paso, TX. The Eurocopter AS-350 B2

ECUREUIL (N157B) was destroyed upon impact with terrain while maneuvering in the

McGregor Military Range, 23 miles northeast of El Paso.

Night visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan was

filed for the Part 135 practice emergency medical services flight. The

helicopter was operated by Enchantment Aviation, Southwest Med Evac. Omniflight

Helicopter owns Enchantment Aviation. The flight had departed the El Paso

International Airport (KELP).

The flight was conducted under contract to the U.S. Army. The mission

attempted to pick up a soldier to simulate transporting injured Army personnel.

The flight was to use night vision goggles (NVGs) and standard company practice

would be for the pilot and paramedic seated in the left aft seat to be on NVGs.

Several Army personnel utilizing various night vision devices were in the

vicinity of the fatal accident. Army personnel stated that the helicopter

arrived to the south of the accident site and made two right turn orbits. The

helicopter was seen turning on and panning the white spot light during these

orbits.

Personnel on the ground attempted to make radio contact with the

helicopter but were not successful, so they began utilizing illumination to

signal the helicopter. The helicopter was then observed to make a third orbit

which was wider than the first two. During the third orbit, the helicopter

banked approximately 45 degrees and entered a steep nose down attitude before

impacting the ground.

An EMS chopper was substantially damaged in a home base takeoff mishap,

but luckily the pilot, two flight nurses and patients were unharmed when the

chopper successfully flew two additional missions.

According to the NTSB's preliminary probe, the incident on April 9 in

Santa Maria, CA, involved a BELL 222U (N222UT) owned and operated by California

Shock Trauma Air Rescue (CALSTAR). It was substantially damaged while standing

in preparation for takeoff from the company's emergency medical services (EMS)

operations base at the Santa Maria Public Airport (SMX), Santa Maria, CA for a

positioning flight.

CALSTAR personnel reported to the NTSB investigator that at SMX, prior to

the pilot's flight assignment duty call, one of the tail rotor blades had been

tied down to the helicopter's tail boom with a strap. Following the pilot's

engine start operation, as the tail rotor blades began rotating in preparation

for takeoff, the tie down strap broke.

Unaware of the mishap, the pilot departed SMX and flew to the Marian

Medical Center Heliport in Santa Maria (1CL8) and landed. Just prior to the

pilot's departure for the EMS flight with a patient and passenger on board, one

of the pilot's flight nurses who was standing outside the helicopter observed

material attached to the helicopter's tail rotor area, bringing the safety issue

to the pilot's attention.

The pilot shut down the engine and examined the helicopter. Nylon webbing

was found wrapped around the tail rotor's drive shaft. The material was removed

and the pilot inspected the helicopter. Believing that the helicopter was

undamaged, the pilot departed 1CL8 and flew under Part 135 to a medical facility

in Madera, CA.

Thereafter, with better illumination, the pilot performed a more detailed

inspection of the helicopter during which he observed damage to one tail rotor

blade and other anomalies.

The pilot notified CALSTAR's management of his observations, and the

helicopter was immediately taken out of service for repairs.

CALSTAR's director of maintenance fully assessed the damage to the

helicopter following its transport back to the maintenance base. One of the tail

rotor blades was found damaged. Its associated pitch change links (helicopter

components) were also found damaged. These items were replaced.

On July 4, in Dayton, OH, a EUROCOPTER AS365N3 (N520CF) operated by Air

Methods sustained minor damage when one of its door windows separated from the

helicopter in-flight. The EMS transport flight was en route from the Lebanon-

Warren County Airport (I68), near Lebanon, OH, to an accident site near Huber

Heights. OH, when the incident occurred. All three occupants, including the

pilot and two crewmembers were uninjured.