Rushville, IN Helicopter Crash

I have to think that the act of selflessly giving one's life in the service to others should be awarded with a VIP pass right through the pearly gates... Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families....

It sure as heck seems like we have been losing an awful lot of medical air crews this past year.

Another sad day


2008 will be 2/3 over at midnight tonight. Thus far, 20 dead and 8 injured
in 12 medical helicopter crashes this year. When will the carnage stop?
Every time you call one of these helicopters please consider whether the
patient will benefit to a degree that justifies the risk these flight crews
take. When it is all saidand done, few patient benegit. Soon, they will not
be able to pay anybody enough to work in HEMS in the United States.

Has there been information released on what's caused all these crashes? I know a couple of years ago, at least one was the fault of the helicopter design.

This company is trying to bring a crew to my state (WV). I recently was offered and refused a job with them. I have never been so thankful for my fear of heights after reading this. God bless the families of the lost crew.

I now live in a city that, in my opinion, uses air transport for patients way too casually. Very many patients are in the air that could easily be in an ambulance. Air evac is used very frequently just for hospital to hospital transports- most of these pts could get to the receiving facility in the same amount of time by ground. I must say that I was shocked at the amount of air traffic I have seen here as opposed to the midwest.
Over the past 3 years here, we have saddly had a few horrible medical helicopter crashes- it is just so sad!

I personally knew the nurse that was killed. She grew up in the town where our little hospital is. She flew out of the Air Evac base at our hospital for some years, and worked in our ER also. I worked with her on many occasions. She was a great nurse and had a lot to teach.
She had two grade-school aged kids.
Sandi was a beautiful woman and the fact that they were all burned beyond recognition seems all the more wrong. When the weather was bad and they couldn't fly, she (and others) would make cookies and bring them over to us in the ER. They had a mobile home they they stayed in that was set next to the helicopter garage.

A very sad day for us all, for sure.

This is the 2nd crash in Indiana in 4 years. The other crash the crew all lived but the patient, who was already in very poor condition, did not.

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?

The Bell 206 LongRanger has been selected by AEL because of its history of high reliability, low maintenance and operating efficiency.
A fleet consisting of a single type of helicopter leads to standardization, more efficient and effective training and maintenance, which results in greater safety and reliability in servicing the air ambulance requirements of small rural communities.
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.
In the more than 23 years that AEL has been in operation, the company has not experienced an accident that can be attributed to its maintenance program.

http://www.theindychannel.com/news/17353706/detail.html

What makes this even worse for me is that I knew these people and it happened in my backyard.