Medical Helicopter Crash

The tragedy of any medical helicopter crash is that the pilot and healthcare workers are all there for one reason: to safely transport patients to a hospital or other medical facility. But some are wondering how “safe” helicopter medevac really is. As of early July 2008, there were six medical helicopter crashes for the year, and three other medical aircraft accidents, all of which claimed the lives of 16 people. Thirteen of those deaths happened in May and June, making it one of the deadliest two-month periods in industry history.

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One crash involved two medevac helicopters near a Flagstaff, AZ hospital. Both were traveling from different directions and collided about a half-mile from the hospital on approach to the landing pad. In all, seven people died and two were seriously injured.

This accident is not unusual – in fact it is part of a disturbing trend. According to National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) stats, there were 14 air ambulance crashes in 2007, resulting in 24 deaths. In 2006, there were 13 accidents and 10 deaths.

Medical Helicopter Crash Rate Too High, Some Say

After a rash of similar medical helicopter crashes in 2004 and 2005, the NTSB opened an investigation and compiled a number of recommendations to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). But, says NTSB chairman Mark Rosenker, the FAA may not be moving fast enough to implement these changes – changes that could save lives.

“The latest spate of accidents has given the board concern that the FAA may not be moving as quickly as necessary,” he told the New York Times.

In reality, the problem has been growing since the 1990s. In the six years from 2002 to 2008, the number of medical helicopters doubled to about 800 operating across the US. Some are operated by the hospitals themselves, but others are operated by private companies looking to cash in on the growing boom.

And booming it is, for a number of reasons. Emergency rooms in rural areas are closing down, forcing medevacs by ground and air to other hospitals. But many medical helicopters are transferring non-emergency patients from one facility to another – in essence, they are not EMS helicopters so much as medical taxis.

“The vast majority of patients could have done well in a ground ambulance,” Dr. Bryan Bledsoe, professor at the University of Nevada School of Medicine and former flight paramedic told the New York Times. “There is pressure to fly because most companies are owned by publicly-owned entities.”

Who’s Overseeing the Helicopter Medevac Industry?

Regulation is another part of the problem. Although all helicopter companies must follow FAA rules, inspections are rare due to manpower shortages. This, coupled with rising fuel costs and other financial pressures means that safety equipment like improved accident-avoidance systems and in some cases even basic maintenance procedures are left to slide.

Still, pilot error is the number one cause of medical helicopter crashes. As in the Flagstaff accident above, there is no air traffic control around a hospital, so pilots must be on the lookout themselves for other aircraft. But the simple fact is, until there is greater regulation of the industry, medevac helicopter accidents will likely continue to rise.

Have You Been In a Helicopter Accident?

If you or a loved one has been injured in a medical helicopter crash, you have the right to seek compensation for your hospital bills, lost work, and pain and suffering. Call David P. Willis today for a free consultation and learn your rights. No matter what the cause of the accident, the air ambulance company, hospitals, and perhaps other parties all have the responsibility of ensuring you arrive safely.

Do not wait – vital evidence could disappear and your rights could be severely compromised if you do not act quickly. Call us right now for free advice and then decide if seeking compensation is the right course of action for you.

KINGFISHER, OK — Two people were killed and another was severely injured when an EagleMed medical helicopter crashed in Kingfisher County, according to Oklahoma Highway Patrol Spokesperson Chris West.

The Federal Aviation Administration says the EagleMed helicopter was en route from Intergris Baptist Medical Center in Oklahoma City to an Okeene hospital 90 miles away when it went down, killing pilot Al Harrison and nurse Ryan Duke.

34-year-old Michael Eccard was stabilized and taken to OU Medical Center by helicopter. A spokeswoman at the OU Medical Center said he was in critical condition.  Eccard was the only survivor of the Thursday night helicopter crash.

The EagleMed helicopter crashed four miles south of Kingfisher just north of Okarche around 8 p.m. Thursday. The cause of the crash was unknown. 

Witnesses who saw the crash said they saw the helicopter go into a tail spin prior to clipping the tops of several trees.

The Federal Aviation Administration, the National Transportation Safety Board, and OSBI are currently investigating the accident.

Victims of an Alpine plane crash were remembered Monday. Roger Folger and his wife Mary Catherine Folger, 73, were among five people killed just after midnight Sunday when their plane crashed shortly after takeoff in Brewster County.

The crash occurred early Sunday morning as Mary Folger was being transported back to Midland International Airport via air ambulance. She was being taken to a hospital in Odessa after a serious fall injured a hip she recently had replaced, according to her son.

Air Ambulance Stat, the medical wing of Amarillo-based O’Hara Flying Service, temporarily halted service after the crash of one of its twin-engine Cessna 421 planes about a mile east of Alpine-Casparis Municipal Airport, a flight medic with the company.

The National Transportation Safety Board had investigators on site and had at least one agent from its transportation disaster assistance office, which provides assistance to those affected by plane crashes, in Alpine.

According to Texas Department of Public Safety reports, the plane was attempting to make an emergency landing, when it hit a rut in a muddy field, overturned and burned.

Medic Tracy Chambers, 42, of Alpine died in the crash, along with pilot Ted Caffarel, 59, of Beaumont also died in the crash.

Brewster County Sheriff Ronny Dodson said a rut in a field wasn’t to blame. Dodson said that shortly after take-off, the plane had begun to land on a small hill northeast of the airport, breaking off its landing gear before going off the other side of the slope. Dodson said it landed on some “grape-fruit-sized rocks” and there were several explosions.

“When the deputy got there, it was still on fire and upside down,” said Dodson, who said the heat from the explosions kept the deputy from being able to get any closer.

This is the second fatal air ambulance crash involving transportation of patients between Big Bend Regional Medical Center in Alpine and Odessa-Midland in 2004, four people were killed when Medical Center Hospital’s CareStar, a Bell 407 helicopter, crashed in a field near Pyote in Ward County.

“It’s obviously very premature to comment on that,” he said. “Right now, our thoughts are only on our parents.”

On June 2, 2010 at approximately 1400 central daylight time, a Bell 222U, multi-engine helicopter, N515MK, was destroyed after impacting terrain near Midlothian, Texas. The airline transport rated pilot and the mechanic, who were the only occupants, sustained fatal injuries. The helicopter was owned and operated by CareFlite, Grand Prairie, Texas. Visual meteorological conditions (VMC) prevailed at the time of the accident and a company flight plan had been filed for the Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 return to service flight following maintenance that had been performed. The helicopter had departed the Grand Prairie Municipal Airport (GPM) Grand Prairie, Texas at approximately 1352, and had planned to return to GPM airport.

The helicopter was in cruise flight at approximately 600 feet above ground level (AGL) when 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.

BROWNSVILLE, Tenn. — A medical helicopter crashed in a thunderstorm in western Tennessee early Thursday, killing a pilot and two nurses on a return trip from delivering a patient. There were no survivors.

Another medical helicopter had declined to make a flight in the area at the time because of the weather.

Tennessee Emergency Management Agency spokesman Jeremy Heidt in Nashville said the flight crashed in a field near Brownsville around 6 a.m. CDT.

Haywood County Sheriff Melvin Bond said nearby factory workers reported seeing a large burst of lightning, followed by an orange glow in the area of the crash.

He said the helicopter crew was communicating with its base when radio contact was lost. The pilot had given no indication of a problem, he said.

“It was totally burnt,” Bond said of the wreckage. Fire-blackened debris could be seen spread across part of the field and one rotor blade stuck straight up from the ground.

Authorities said the helicopter 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 Lynn Lunsford, a spokesman with the Federal Aviation Administration in Fort Worth, Texas. Lunsford said the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board were investigating.

“They (investigators) will look at everything from the aircraft to the weather,” Lunsford said. “As the NTSB says, ‘man, machine and environment.”‘

Rich Okulski, a supervisor in the Memphis office of the National Weather Service, said there were thunderstorms in the area at the time and weather could have played a role in the crash.

Okulski said the agency doesn’t have an observer in Brownsville. But at the time of the crash, a thunderstorm was in progress at McKellar-Sipes Regional Airport in Jackson, about 25 miles east of Brownsville, and a line of thunderstorms had cleared Memphis, about 55 miles southwest.

Julie Heavrin, a spokeswoman for Air Evac Lifeteam, said from company headquarters in West Plains, Mo., that the weather at the time was considered too dangerous for their helicopters to fly.

She could not say whether the call was about the same patient who was airlifted by Hospital Wing, but said the request was for an air transfer from Parsons to Jackson at 4:02 a.m.

Keith Holloway, a spokesman for the NTSB, said a team was leaving Washington at midday to examine the crash site. He said the team will be on site for three to five days and a preliminary report would be released about 10 days later.

The flight was operated by Hospital Wing, a nonprofit air medical transport service with headquarters in Memphis and branches in Oxford, Miss., and Brownsville. It operates five helicopters.

Jamie Carter, a company board member, said the helicopter was a Eurocraft Astar model and one of the newest in Hospital Wing’s fleet.

He said it was the first company accident since it began operating in 1986.

“We are suspending operations with the service until we can get our arms around what happened,” Carter said.

The branch in Brownsville opened in 2004 serving 26 counties in Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas, the company Web site says.

The crash scene is near U.S. 70 and about 55 miles northeast of Memphis. The site is an agricultural area with dirt roads and few houses nearby.

Improving the safety of emergency medical services flights has been on the NTSB’s “most wanted improvements” list since 2008, a year when the industry suffered a record number of fatalities.

There were 41 people killed in 11 EMS helicopter accidents between December 2007 and February 2010, according to an NTSB report.

It said the pressure that crews face to respond quickly during difficult flight conditions, like darkness or bad weather, has led to increased fatal accidents.

Last fall, the NTSB urged the government to impose stricter controls on emergency helicopter operators, including requiring the use of autopilots, night-vision systems and flight data recorders.