GREENBELT, Md. (WJZ) — She was the sole survivor and now she wants tens of millions of dollars.  Jordan Wells filed a federal lawsuit against the FAA and air traffic controller following a 2008 Medevac helicopter crash that killed four and left Wells alone on the ground and in pain.

 Wells and her friend Ashley Younger were on their way home from a carnival on a rain-slicked road when they crashed after Wells lost control of the car.  They were airlifted to the hospital but never made it.

 The helicopter crashed near Andrews Air Force Base, killing Younger, the pilot, a flight paramedic and an emergency medical technician.  Wells lay there, alone.

 “I remember looking up at the sky, at the stars and I just prayed to God,” she said.  “I said, ‘God, please send someone to save me.’”

In the weeks that followed, Wells underwent 20 surgeries and the crash investigation underwent intense scrutiny.

Among the findings: a multitude of causes, including outdated weather information and a pilot not proficient in instrument-landing approaches.  For that reason, Wells’ attorneys are now asking for $50 million in damages.

There was no response from the attorneys about the lawsuit. 

The state has instituted new rules for medical evaluations, including adding a second pilot and paramedic on every flight and replacing outdated helicopters.

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If you have been injured or a loved one has been killed in a helicopter crash, then call us 24/7 for an immediate consultation to discuss the details of the accident and learn what we can do to help protect your legal rights. Whether the accident was caused by negligence on the part of the helicopter owner, hospital or corporation, the manufacturer or due to lack of training, poor maintenance, pilot or operator error, tail rotor failure, sudden loss of power, defective electronics or engine failure or flying in bad weather conditions, we can investigate the case and provide you the answers you need. Call Toll Free 1-800-883-9858 and talk to a Board Certified Trial Lawyer with over 30 years of legal experience or fill out our online form by clicking below:

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The sole survivor of a 2008 Maryland State Police helicopter crash in District Heights has filed a $50 million lawsuit against the Federal Aviation Administration, alleging negligence on the part of air traffic controllers.

Jordan Wells, 20, of Waldorf filed the suit Dec. 7 with the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland in Greenbelt.

The suit states that before the Sept. 27, 2008, crash, the FAA traffic controllers who were based at Joint Base Andrews gave Maryland State Police pilot Stephen J. Bunker dated information on weather conditions, failed to guide him in the Trooper 2 helicopter to a safe landing as navigation equipment began to falter and did not alert paramedics to the scene of the crash.

Wells, who was 18 at the time, survived the crash into a wooded area of Walker Mill Regional Park in District Heights but lost her right leg as a result.

Bunker, 59, of Waldorf; Trooper 1st Class Mickey C. Lippy, 34, of Westminster, a state police flight paramedic; Tonya Mallard, 39, of Waldorf, an EMT for the Waldorf Volunteer Rescue Squad; and Ashley J. Younger, 17, of Waldorf, died in the crash.

Wells’ attorney said that she is “scarred from head to toe” and has suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and feelings of survivor guilt. She has had to learn how to walk again and drives a modified vehicle, he said.

Wells’ lawsuit is the third related to the crash. Kenneth Mallard, husband of Tonya Mallard, filed a $7 million suit against the FAA on July 21 in federal court that also claims the FAA did not ensure Trooper 2’s safe landing. Mickey Lippy’s widow, Christina P. Lippy of Westminster, sued the FAA in March in federal court for $15 million on behalf of her husband.

Prior to the crash, Trooper 2 picked up Younger and Wells, who were involved in a vehicle crash in Waldorf. The helicopter was originally going to fly to Prince George’s Hospital Center in Cheverly, but foggy weather conditions forced them to reroute to Joint Base Andrews, where an ambulance waited to transport them to Prince George’s Hospital Center.

Bunker was unable to pick up a glideslope, a navigation system to help guide an aircraft to the runway, during flight. While in contact with the air traffic controller at Andrews’ tower, the controller replied, “It’s [the glideslope] showing green on the panel, but you’re the only aircraft we’ve had in a long time, so I don’t really know if it’s working or not,” court documents state.

An Andrews FAA air traffic controller told Bunker just before midnight that she could not provide him with “airport surveillance radar approach,” radar that gives an aircraft vertical and lateral guidance to safely reach the runway, court documents state. No additional attempts were made with Trooper 2 shortly before it crashed, court documents state. Whether the air traffic controller who discussed the glideslope with Bunker is the same one who could not provide the radar service is not stated in court documents.

The suit claims that air traffic controllers never called to say the last-known coordinates of the helicopter, and that Wells’ leg could have been saved if she had not been in the woods for two hours with the helicopter laying across her legs as paramedics struggled to find the aircraft’s location.

“The infection set in because she was sitting in the mud with an open wound,” said her attorney, who added that to date Wells has had 30 surgeries related to injuries she suffered in the crash.

“She may have to lose the other leg as well because of the complications she’s been dealing with.”

FAA spokeswoman Arlene Salac said she could not comment on any of the pending litigation.

Contact a Helicopter Lawyer

If you have been injured or a loved one has been killed in a helicopter crash, then call us 24/7 for an immediate consultation to discuss the details of the accident and learn what we can do to help protect your legal rights. Whether the accident was caused by negligence on the part of the helicopter owner, hospital or corporation, the manufacturer or due to lack of training, poor maintenance, pilot or operator error, tail rotor failure, sudden loss of power, defective electronics or engine failure or flying in bad weather conditions, we can investigate the case and provide you the answers you need. Call Toll Free 1-800-883-9858 and talk to a Board Certified Trial Lawyer with over 30 years of legal experience or fill out our online form by clicking below:

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By ROHAN SULLIVAN and KRISTEN GELINEAU, Associated Press

SYDNEY – Australian investigators on Thursday identified the source of an oil leak that caused a superjumbo engine to blow apart in mid air last month, and said a suspected manufacturing defect in the Rolls-Royce engine was to blame.

They warned airlines the potential flaw could cause engine failure.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau recommended the three airlines that use Rolls-Royce’s massive Trent 900 engines on their A380s go back and conduct more checks now that it had pinpointed the problem area. Three airlines fly a total of 20 the Airbus planes.

Earlier warnings blamed an oil leak for a fire and subsequent chain of failures that sent heavy parts flying off an engine on a Qantas A380 shortly after it took off from Singapore on Nov. 4, the most serious safety problem for the world’s largest and newest jetliner.

The ATSB, which is leading the international investigation into the Qantas breakup, added some specifics on Thursday, saying a section of an oil tube that connects the high-pressure and intermediate-pressure bearing structures of the engine was the danger area.

“The problem relates to the potential for misaligned oil pipe counter-boring, which could lead to fatigue cracking, oil leakage and potential engine failure from an oil fire,” the ATSB said in a brief statement.

It called the problem “a potential manufacturing defect.”

Counterboring involves placing a larger hole over a smaller hole to make room for a seal. The ATSB said a misalignment of those holes had produced a thinning of the oil pipe wall and fatigue cracks. That could have led to oil leaking into a section of the engine containing extremely hot gas — a mixture of burned fuel and air. If oil comes into contact with the hot gas, it will burn.

“It is a design error and obviously a major one,” said Peter Marosszeky, a jetliner maintenance expert at the University of New South Wales.

Rolls-Royce had no comment Thursday morning.

The ATSB recommended close inspections of all Trent 900 engines to look for signs of the problem. Any engines that display such signs should be removed from service, it said.

In response to that recommendation, Rolls-Royce, affected airlines and other safety regulators were taking action to ensure the A380s involved were safe, the ATSB statement said.

The three airlines, Qantas, Singapore Airlines and Germany’s Lufthansa, conducted extensive checks of their Trent 900 engines and modified some parts in compliance with a Nov. 11 directive from the European Aviation Safety Agency. That order was to look for oil leaks in the same section of the engine, but did not mention a potential source.

On Thursday, the agency said it had no immediate plans to change that directive following the ATSB’s recommendations.

“We believe the safety of the engines is ensured by our previous (Nov. 11) airworthiness directive, namely the engine inspections,” spokesman Dominique Fouda said. “But if there are additional findings in the next several days, we reserve the right to change that directive.”

Regulators have said preliminary investigations show an oil fire broke out in the section of the Qantas engine that houses the turbines, which are spun at great speeds by combusting jet fuel. An oil pump and network of tubes lubricate and cool the turbines.

Experts say the fire could have caused the rotor to which the turbine blades are attached to expand, bringing the blades into contact with the casing that encloses the engine. Part of a shattered turbine disc was found in the wreckage of the engine, and another part flew off in the disintegration and hasn’t been recovered, the ATSB said.

Qantas, which grounded its six A380s for more than three weeks after the blowout, said Thursday it would conduct one-time checks on its superjumbos. Spokesman Simon Rushton said the inspections were not expected to take long, or disrupt service.

Qantas replaced 16 Trent 900s before putting just two of its A380s back into the skies five days ago. The others are still undergoing tests.

“After discussions with the Australian Transport and Safety Bureau and Rolls-Royce, it was decided it was prudent to conduct further inspections of engine components, although there is no immediate risk to flight safety,” Qantas said in a statement.

The ATSB finding strengthens Qantas CEO Alan Joyce’s stated belief the engine blowout was caused by a manufacturing problem, not a maintenance issue for which the airline could bear responsibility. Rolls-Royce has remained largely silent about the issue since it happened, and the London-based company’s share price has seesawed. Rolls-Royce shares were down 1.4 percent at 610 pence in the first hour of trading on the London Stock Exchange on Thursday.

Qantas said Thursday it filed a statement of claim in a federal court that will allow it to pursue possible legal action against Rolls-Royce if it isn’t satisfied with a compensation offer from the engine manufacturer.

“Today’s action allows Qantas to keep all options available to the company to recover losses, as a result of the grounding of the A380 fleet and the operational constraints currently imposed on A380 services,” Joyce said in the statement. He has refused to specify how much compensation the airline wants.

On Nov. 12, the company said its full-year earnings would be “slightly lower than previously guided” because of the problem with the engines. In July, it had forecast underlying profits would grow by 4-5 percent compared to 2009.

John Page, an aircraft designer and senior lecturer in aerospace engineering at the University of New South Wales, said one possible explanation for a misalignment of the oil tubes was a programming error in computers used in the manufacturing process.

“The problem with it is if there is an error in the coding of the machining, then (to) some extent it’s not as obvious — because nobody’s actually doing it by hand,” he said. “As designs become more and more automated, people are expecting more perfection. It’s much closer to perfection — it just ain’t perfect.”

The ATSB is due to publish its preliminary report into the Qantas incident on Friday.

Chief commissioner Martin Dolan said it pre-empted the report with Thursday’s safety recommendation because it realized only on Wednesday in discussions with Rolls-Royce the significance of the counterboring issue.

“We considered it was a sufficiently significant safety issue that we should immediately release it to parties who were operating with these engines,” Dolan told The Associated Press.

Singapore Airlines has 11 superjumbos which use Trent 900 engines and Lufthansa has three.

Singapore Airlines said Thursday it is conducting new checks of its engines. The airline “is complying with the recommendations and carrying out the new inspections, alongside other inspections recommended by Rolls-Royce and included in the directives from the European Aviation Safety Agency,” it said in a statement.

___

Associated Press writers Rod McGuirk in Canberra, Australia, and Slobodan Lekic in Brussels contributed to this report.

UPDATE:    Victim identified as Gary Bland, 52, of Georgia. Those injured identified as Robert Rogers, Ryan Lang and Jeffrey McCay. All three treated and released from Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown. 

The investigation into what brought down a helicopter in a rural area of Tucker County over the weekend, killing one, is still under investigation. 

Doug Colafella with Allegheny Energy says those involved in the crash were not Allegheny Energy employees. 

“There were four employees of subcontractors that were doing work related to the construction of our Trans Allegheny Interstate Line transmission line,” Colafella said. 

The pilot and the three linemen based out of Kansas City were working on the TrAIL project about 10:30 Saturday morning when disaster struck. 

“They were attaching wires to a tower, essentially using a helicopter to hover right up to the top of a transmission tower,” Colafella told MetroNews Monday. “The line workers had exited the chopper onto the tower, had permanently coupled shield wire to the tower, had completed the work, re-boarded the helicopter, when at that time something occurred and the helicopter came down.” 

One of the linemen was killed, the pilot and two other linemen were injured and flown to Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown. 

Colafella says Allegheny Energy prides itself on its safety record and they’re mourning the loss of a worker they’d come to know well. 

“We are really deeply saddened by this accident,” he said. “These were subcontractors of Allegheny. But our employees and these folks work in the field together and have worked together on this from the very beginning.” 

The FAA and the NTSB are investigating the crash.

ST. LOUIS COUNTY, MO — The pilot of a Missouri State Highway Patrol helicopter died in a crash in a residential subdivision in the Clarkson Valley area Friday morning.

Bell 206B JetRanger Wreckage

No one on the ground was injured. The pilot was Highway Patrol Sgt. Joe Schuengel, 47, a 17-year veteran of the Missouri State Highway Patrol. The highway patrol’s headquarters in Jefferson City confirmed that the helicopter carried only Schuengel, who was killed on impact.

The helicopter was working traffic enforcement above Interstate 55 in Jefferson County that morning. Two other highway patrol troopers were in the helicopter for that duty, but Schuengel dropped them off and was returning to Spirit of St. Louis Airport in Chesterfield when the helicopter crashed at about 11 a.m. The tower at Spirit airport lost the helicopter from radar, then called in a St. Louis County police helicopter to fly over the area and see what had happened

The helicopter crashed in the Kehrs Mill Trail subdivision along Horseshoe Ridge Road between Chesterfield and Ballwin. One observer and about a dozen neighbors ran over to crash site, which was strewn with glass and papers, he said. The wreckage was smoking and spilling fuel and oil. He said he saw the pilot, who wasn’t moving.

Several local workers who were also in the area and said they heard what seemed like a scraping noise and then a loud thud. When they got to the crash site, they found the helicopter’s rotor had detached from the flattened wreckage of the rest of the craft. The rotor ended up in somone’s yard, they said. According to the FAA, the Bell 206B JetRanger helicopter was manufactured in 1981. The helicopter was Troop C’s only helicopter.

Bell 206B JetRanger Helicopter Crash-Chesterfield, Missouri

The pilot of a Missouri State Highway Patrol helicopter, Sgt. Joe Schuengel died in a crash in a residential subdivision in the Clarkson Valley area.  No one on the ground was injured. Sgt. Joe Schuengel was a 17 year veteran of the highway patrol. The Bell 206B helicopter only carried Sgt. Schuengel, who was killed on impact. The Bell 206B was assigned to traffic enforcement.

The Bell 206B helicopter came down on a street and did not hit any homes. The Bell 206 helicopter was working speeding enforcement above Interstate 55 in Jefferson County. Two other highway patrol troopers were in the helicopter for that duty, however Sgt. Schuengel had already dropped them off and he was returning to Spirit of St. Louis Airport in Chesterfield when the Bell 206 helicopter crashed.

The copter crashed along Horseshoe Ridge Road, of Kehrs Mill Road in an unincorporated St. Louis County between Chesterfield and Ballwin. The subdivision is the Kehrs Mill Trail subdivision, consisting of 102 homes that each sit on two acres or more.

At the crash site, witnesses saw the wreckage, which was strewn with glass and papers.  The Bell 206 Helicopter was smoking and spilling gas and oil.

Several Ameren Missouri workers who were also in the area said that when they got to the crash site, they found the helicopter’s rotor had detached from the flattened wreckage. The rotor ended up in someone’s yard.

The patrol’s aircraft division had five helicopters, some of which are used in conjunction with the Defense Department for marijuana eradication, while others, like the Bell 206 Sgt. Schuengel was flying, are used for traffic enforcement and searches by air.

According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the Bell 206B JetRanger helicopter was manufactured in 1981. The Bell 206B helicopter was Troop C’s only helicopter. Sgt. Schuengel assisted in searches for missing children in the area and often appeared at community events as a representative of the highway patrol.  St. Schuengel is the 29th member of the Missouri Highway Patrol to die in the line of duty.

HOUSTON — A pilot and television camera operator died Monday October 13th, 2010 when their helicopter crashed near Houston on the way to cover a news story.

KTRK reported the helicopter was flying to the scene of a shooting when it crashed in a state forest near Conroe, on the northern edge of Houston’s suburbs.

Local stations showed video of burning trees and a pile of debris made up of pieces of the helicopter. The station’s SkyEye logo was partially visible on one piece.
“All of us at KTRK-TV are deeply saddened by the tragic accident involving SkyEye 13 and our hearts go out to the families of the pilot and the photographer,” station spokesman Tom Ash said in a statement.

It was not immediately clear what caused the 11:30 a.m. crash. Authorities from the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board were heading to the area to investigate, said Sgt. Kenneth Hiebert of the state Department of Public Safety.

“Most of it burned” after impact, Hiebert said.

There were a few houses nearby but none were damaged.

The aircraft, a Bell 206L4, was owned by Helicopters Inc., company spokeswoman Seva Kaiser told the Houston Chronicle. She said she did not know how old the helicopter was.

The company leases aircraft to about 70 news organizations around the country.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Three medical evacuation helicopter crew members were killed early Tuesday when their helicopter crashed while enroute to a traffic crash to evacuate a victim in central Arkansas . A Federal Aviation Administration spokesman stated that the Air Evac Lifeteam helicopter crashed at approximately 4:00 a.m. near the community of Scotland in Van Buren County, Arkansas.  Investigators from the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board were on site at the crash site conducting the investigation. Apparently there were no distress calls from the helicopter. Scotland is about 80 miles north of Little Rock in central Arkansas.

Air Evac Lifeteam Helicopter Crash Site in Arkansas

Pilot Kenneth Robertson, flight nurse Kenneth Meyer, Jr., and flight paramedic Gayla Gregory all were killed, according to an Air Evac spokesman. Van Buren County Coroner Dorothy Branscum said the victims were killed on impact. “I would say they might’ve seen it coming, but that was it. The helicopter was just melted and it was just in pieces,” according to Branscum.

Investigators said autopsies, which were to be performed by the state medical examiner’s office, would help determine whether a medical emergency among the crew could have caused the accident. It also was too early to say whether “a mechanical anomaly” caused the helicopter to break up in the air, or if the aircraft struck trees that caused parts to fall off as it went down, according to a National Transportation Safety Board investigator Tuesday evening.

“They were flying under VFR (visual flight rules),” the FAA spokesman stated. “It also doesn’t appear they were talking to any air traffic controllers at the time.” No patients were aboard the helicopter. The Bell 206 helicopter, built in 1978, was registered to Air Evac EMS Inc. which is based in West Plains, Missouri.

According to the Walnut Grove Fire Department, the department alarm went off just before 4 a.m. with firefighters on the scene about eight minutes later. They found burning wreckage and immediately began work to see if there were any survivors. The wreckage was scattered around the area with the main part of the helicopter in the woods next to a clearing near the Walnut Grove Church.

The crew was based in Vilonia, Arkansas. Air Evac operates Med Evac helicopter services in 13 states and has experienced several fatal helicopter crashes in recent years.  In March of 2010, three medi-vac helicopter crew members were killed in a helicopter crash in Tennessee. In 2008, an Air Evac helicopter crashed in an Indiana cornfield killing three people. In 2007, another three-member crew was killed when an Air Evac helicopter crashed in Colbert County, Alabama.

“This is a tragic day for us here at Air Evac Lifeteam,” the spokesman said. “These were members of our family and we are devastated at this loss. Our focus at this time is on providing support for the family and friends of these helicopter crew members.”

Contact a Helicopter Lawyer

If you have been injured or a loved one has been killed in a helicopter crash, then call us 24/7 for an immediate consultation to discuss the details of the accident and learn what we can do to help protect your legal rights. Whether the accident was caused by negligence on the part of the helicopter owner, hospital or corporation, the manufacturer or due to lack of training, poor maintenance, pilot or operator error, tail rotor failure, sudden loss of power, defective electronics or engine failure or flying in bad weather conditions, we can investigate the case and provide you the answers you need. Call Toll Free 1-800-883-9858 and talk to a Board Certified Trial Lawyer with over 30 years of legal experience or fill out our online form by clicking below:

Legal Help: Contact a Helicopter Lawyer