Rushville, IN Helicopter Crash

[quote=Pat_Pat;3083246]The Bell 206 is the safest helicopter flying today. (Hrs of flight vs. crashes)
This is from Air Evacs website:

What type of helicopter is used in the company’s operations?

AEL operates an extensive maintenance and refurbishment center that employs more than 60 trained professionals who specialize in aircraft maintenance, avionics, sheet metal fabrication and aircraft painting. When AEL purchases a helicopter, each aircraft undergoes a rigorous refurbishment process. The helicopter is stripped down to the skeleton and rebuilt, so it is essentially a new aircraft when it is finally put back into service.



this is not essentially a new aircraft. it ages with the number of engine hours. i'm not trying to down on ael, but this is one of the complaints with their service because...at times...it seems they have placed new skin and paint job on an old airframe and engine.
and in response to crna2007's statement: it's been way more than just this past year. these accidents have been increasing for several years, i've lost a couple friends myself. i think that a lot of what's flown could EASILY go by ground and there are a lot of reasons behind this (some are legit).
for scene responses, my experience has been that ground crews will "helicopter shop" trying to find a program that will fly their patient. in many cases...regardless of the weather, trying to increase numbers. i don't understand why a weather-sharing initiative isn't adopted all over the country. we would get calls from neighboring programs stating that they had just declined a flight..especially from ground crews that were notorious for calling everyone within a 100 mile radius. it made me think that with the amount of time spent requesting a flight, they probably could've driven to the trauma center by the time they got declined by everyone (foggy, pouring rain, lightning, etc....did they not hear the wx minimums in our lz in-service?)
not trying to rant or vent but this has been a big problem and i've been hopeful that aams.org/visionzero will help decrease these incidents.
my thoughts and prayers go with the families.....

Oh, Bethin!!! What a horrible tragedy!!! I just got up and read this first thing, and I am so sorry to hear about this!!! Are you okay? I can't imagine how difficult it would be to not only know them, but to have this happen in your own back yard. That brought tears to my eyes and I didn't even know them. I have already said prayers for them, their families, you and all those who knew them. Please take good care of you!!!

How terribly sad, Bethin. Hugs and condolences to you and their families.

There were some reports that eyewitnesses saw "something fall" from the helicopter before it crashed.

I'd only get in an EMS-loaded 206 if it was the last aircraft lifting off a burning building. If the building was four stories or less, I'd take my chances with jumping.

This was a tragedy. The loss of the crew, I'm sure, was devastating to their loved ones and the EMS community.

But,

Programs of this sort ride the bottom line straight to these holes in cornfields.

I love this work, and feel that it's important. I fly in a state-of-the-art, medium, twin-engine aircraft with every possible (well beyond "mandated") safety feature. The pilots I work with are exerienced, carefully selected and rigorously trained. Safety here is first, last and everything in between. My job is "risky", but I'm at peace with it.

People that work for operations that fly underpowered, dated aircraft with minimal safety equipment have jobs that are "dangerous". I guess they'd better be at peace with that, and everything else, too.

My condolences to the family and friends of the Flight Crew of LifeTeam 76.

This thread was started as an opportunity for us to offer condolences. It is my view that discussing HEMS Safety and bad mouthing their company in the same thread is disrespectful.

If anyone wishes to discuss HEMS safety and offer up their opinions please visit this thread: http://allnurses.com/forums/f19/surg...ts-318108.html

or start a new discussion.

That might just be the case. This is a very safe helicopter design and one that I have many hours in. Failure of the component mentioned in this case is exceptionally rare.


http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?e...09X01417&key=1