An air ambulance helicopter crashed into a wooded area of Arkansas early Tuesday, killing all three crewmembers and raising the death toll in the industry to 22 in the past year.The Air Evac Lifeteam chopper was flying to pick up a victim of a traffic accident when it hit trees and crashed, bursting into flames about 4:30 a.m., Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) spokesman Lynn Lunsford said. The pilot and two medical crewmembers died, he said.

The crash, near the town of Scotland, is the latest in a surge of accidents and fatalities. The past year has seen 14 accidents involving air ambulance helicopters, eight fatal, government statistics show. Since June, four crashes have killed 10 people.

Advocates for safety improvements said the crash is further evidence of the need for stiff new requirements on medevac flights.

“There is a long way to go and we’re not there yet,” said Stacey Friedman, whose sister, flight nurse Erin Reed, died in a 2005 crash.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which is heading the investigation into Tuesday’s crash, has issued numerous suggested safety improvements for the industry in recent years. The agency has no regulatory authority. The FAA, which oversees the industry, is writing new rules but will not unveil them until fall. Congress has several bills addressing safety, but those have stalled in a deadlock over FAA’s funding.

Dan Hankins, a physician who directs a hospital air-ambulance program and is president of the Association of Air Medical Services, said he supports adoption of the NTSB’s recommendations. However, he acknowledged that not all of the companies in his organization back the recommendations.

The NTSB wants new requirements for equipment that can help prevent pilots from getting disoriented in poor visibility, better pilot training and improved internal monitoring for safety lapses.

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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LAKEVIEW, Mich. (AP) – A pilot has been injured in a helicopter crash in central Michigan.

The Grand Rapids Press, WZZM and WOOD reported 73-year-old pilot Clayton Capen of Mecosta was the only person aboard when the helicopter struck a hangar Saturday at Lakeview Airport, about 40 miles northeast of Grand Rapids.

Michigan State Police Sgt. Aaron Sweeney says Capen was landing about 1:15 p.m. to get fuel when the craft struck the top of a hangar and crashed. Sweeney says the helicopter ended up on its side.

Capen was listed in serious condition at Spectrum Butterworth Hospital in Grand Rapids.

Mecosta is north of Lakeview.

(Copyright ©2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved)

A missing helicopter was found Friday afternoon in Lumpkin County, a spokeswoman for the Civil Air Patrol said. The pilot and passenger were killed in the north Georgia crash.

The Civil Air Patrol began searching for a bright-colored Robinson R44 Wednesday evening after relatives of the sole passenger called the Blairsville Airport wondering if he arrived safely.

The helicopter left the North Palm Beach County airport in Florida Monday and was scheduled to arrive that afternoon at the helipad at the Brasstown Valley Resort and Spa in Young Harris, said Paige Joyner, spokeswoman for the Civil Air Patrol.

Adam Reeves of Jupiter, Fla., was the pilot of the chopper. Joyner said officials are not releasing the name of the passenger.

The helicopter landed in Madison, Ga., for fuel at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday. It was due in Blairsville at 7 p.m. but never arrived. It is unclear when it left North Palm Beach County airport.

“I started receiving calls after I closed up about 6:30 pm”, John Hamler, airport manager of the Blairsville airport, said on Wednesday. “The family called from Florida looking to know if relatives had landed in the helicopter. And, we had no helicopters.”

The widower of a Waldorf emergency medical technician who perished in a September 2008 medevac air ambulance helicopter crash in District Heights has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the federal government, alleging that air traffic controller negligence in failing to guide the aircraft to a safe landing led to the death of his wife.

Kenneth Mallard, whose wife, Tonya Mallard, 39, of Waldorf was an EMT for the Waldorf Volunteer Rescue Squad, filed a $7 million federal lawsuit against the Federal Aviation Administration on July 21st, 2010 in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt. The lawsuit claims the FAA did not do everything necessary to ensure a safe landing for the Maryland State Police Trooper 2 air ambulance helicopter. The attorney for Kenneth Mallard stated that Mr. Mallard deserves to be compensated because of the negligence of the Federal Aviation Administration’s air traffic controllers.

Tonya Mallard was one of four people who died on Sept. 27, 2008, aboard the air ambulance helicopter that crashed into a wooded area of Walker Mill Regional Park.

State police pilot Stephen J. Bunker, 59, of Waldorf; Trooper 1st Class Mickey C. Lippy, 34, of Westminster; and Ashley J. Younger, 17, of Waldorf also died in the crash. Jordan Wells of Waldorf, then 18, was the lone crash survivor. He later filed a $50 million personal-injury lawsuit against the FAA that was denied.

In May 2010, Lippy’s widow, Christina P. Lippy of Westminster, also filed a lawsuit against the FAA for $15 million on behalf of her husband, a Maryland State Police flight paramedic.

The Mallard lawsuit states that Tonya Mallard and all of the occupants should have been properly warned about adverse weather conditions and that she suffered “pre-impact fright” because she was aware of the difficulties Bunker had with navigating the helicopter before she died from the impact of the crash. FAA air traffic controllers gave him outdated flight visibility information that made navigation difficult for Bunker, court documents state.

The helicopter came from a vehicle crash in Waldorf that involved Younger and Wells and was en route to Joint Base Andrews near Camp Springs, where an ambulance was waiting to transport them to Prince George’s Hospital Center in Cheverly. Foggy weather conditions prevented the helicopter from going directly to Prince George’s Hospital Center.

During the flight Bunker could not pick up a GlideScope, a navigation system to help guide an aircraft to the runway. While in contact with the air traffic controller at Andrews’ tower, the controller replied, “It’s [the GlideScope] 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.

Shortly before midnight, Bunker requested ground-based radar called an “airport surveillance radar approach” to reach the runway, but was told by an FAA air traffic controller at Andrews that she could not give him that service, court documents state. The court documents did not indicate whether the air traffic controller who discussed the GlideScope with Bunker was the same one who could not provide “airport surveillance radar approach” service.

No more attempts were made to contact Bunker before the helicopter crashed in Walker Mill Regional Park.

A spokesman for the FAA Eastern Region office, stated that the FAA cannot comment on pending lawsuits such as Lippy’s and Mallard’s.

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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TUCSON – A LifeNet air ambulance helicopter operated by Air Methods Corporation crashed near Park & Glenn Avenue Wednesday afternoon. Three crew members on board the helicopter died as a result of injuries sustained when it crashed into a yard in midtown Tucson at 1:40 p.m. Air Methods Corporation says the EuroCopter AS350 was based in Douglas.

The pilot has been identified as 61-year-old Alexander Kelley. Kelley was an experienced pilot, and had been with Air Methods since 2002. The paramedic has been identified as 28-year-old Brenda French, and the flight nurse as 41-year-old Parker Summons.  They were en route from Marana to Douglas. No patients were on board at the time of the crash.

An eyewitness said that the helicopter’s engine stalled then, started back up again.  According to the witness, “When it started back up he turned it to the other side, tried to get it back up but it just slammed down.”

The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the accident.  Company officials are en route to the area.

In a statement, Aaron Todd, the CEO of Air Methods Corporation said, “This is a sad day for all of us at Air Methods and we extend our heartfelt sympathy to the family and friends of our employees who perished while on duty.”

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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A Tucson medivac helicopter crash has left three people dead, the Associated Press and local Arizona media are reporting. The latest AP reports list the status of one person as dead, and two others as injured, but the AZ Daily Star is reporting that the other two crash victims died as they were being transported to the hospital for treatment. It was later confirmed that all three people onboard were either killed on impact, or died shortly after the crash.

Just after 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon, numerous 911 calls were made reporting the Tucson helicopter crash. The LifeNet medical helicopter, which was reportedly en route from Marana to Douglas before it crashed Wednesday afternoon, slammed into the ground and nearly into a house. The Tucson helicopter crash Wednesday took place near Glenn and Grant Road, just north of the University of Arizona campus.

According to the Associated Press, a witness indicated the rotor may have seized and left those aboard the LifeNet helicopter powerless to help themselves before crashing. The Tucson helicopter crash did not cause any injuries on the ground, and there were no patients in the helicopter. LifeNet is a non-profit which primarily deals with transporting organs for donation and transplant, according to LifeNet.com. The identities of the LifeNet personnel killed in today’s Tucson helicopter crash will be withheld from the public until the families can be notified.

A thorough on-scene investigation into today’s LifeNet helicopter crash is ongoing at this hour and may continue through Thursday, according to Arizona Daily Wildcat report. Tucson Police and Fire initially responded to the scene of the crash, and the FAA will join them to determine the cause of the crash.

Sources:

AZ Daily Star – 7/28/2010
Arizona Daily Wildcat – 7/28/2010
Associated Press
LifeNet.org

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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ROCHESTER, MN — Authorities say a California man was crop dusting when his helicopter crashed in a southern Minnesota field, killing him.

Olmsted County authorities say Sunday that 68-year-old Allen Joseph Broussard of Grenada Hills was a contract pilot who spent the last seven summers dusting fields in Minnesota.

He was the only person in the helicopter when it crashed near Rochester on Saturday.

Authorities say the 1967 Bell model 47G4A helicopter was owned by Scott’s Helicopter Service of LeSueur.

At the time of the accident, the aircraft had been refueled and taken on more insecticide. Witnesses told authorities they saw a flame and smoke coming from the exhaust area before the crash. The helicopter was found in a grassy area between crop fields, and it was leaking kerosene fuel.

Broussard was found unconscious and partially outside the wreckage of the helicopter.

The Federal Aviation Administration and the NTSB are curently investigating.

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.

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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Four emergency rescuers survived a helicopter crash in Nevada’s Ruby Mountains Monday.

The Bell Ranger went down near Angel Lake in the Ruby Mountains of Nevada at about 4 p.m. at an elevation of about 8,500 feet.

The crew had just finished rescuing a stranded climber when the crash occurred, according to authorities.  Three Elko, Nevada firefighters aboard and a the local pilot escaped serious injury. Pilot Dale Coleman of El Aero was transported by Summit Air to the Northeastern Nev. Regional Hospital with what was described as lacerations to the head.

A mechanic, Randall Ranson was in the general aviation area of Salt Lake International Airport.   Witnesses have come forward to say that Ranson ran toward the wreckage to save a critically injured man, right before there was an explosion.

Around 3:30 p.m. on the 17th, three men were attempting to load a helicopter on a trailer when one of the skids slipped of the side. Witnesses say the rotor then hit the truck and broke apart, sending debris flying.

At that point, Ranson came running out of the hangar he where he was working, and tried to pull Tom Kalis to safety.

“Just as he was reaching out for him the helicopter erupted into fire and Randall sustained severe burn injuries,” says witness Robert Carmichael. “It takes a special person to put themselves aside and in harms way for others that are in need.”

Kalis died at the scene. Ranson suffered burns and was rushed to the hospital. Pilot Jared Kump and co-pilot Darrin Kalis, Tom Kalis’ brother, were injured as well.

The NTSB is investigating the accident.  It could be several weeks before their final report is released.