3 Dead After Medical Helicopter Crashes

[Punisher]

This is a warning to all....

As we do on another site dedicated to flight, if anymore discussion takes place on what may have happened based on mere speculation, the thread will be closed and offending posts removed.

It is customary within the flight circle to not discuss these things until preliminary findings or even the official report comes out as a matter of respect to our fallen brothers and sisters.

Feel free to offer condolences, speak of how you feel, but anymore certification listing, thereby making me better informed than you to say what happened needs to stop.

If you wish to discuss safety issues and overhauls within HEMS, please kindly start another thread.

My apologies AK. As I told Incognitogirl in a PM, part of my fire and brimstone approach here is the fact that I lost a friend in this crash and partly this coincided (to the day) with a loss in my family as well. If I was out of line, I apologize for that. Grief and anger got the better of me and for that I am sorry. While I still feel issues exist that need to be addressed, I will follow a less nasty (and therefore more likely to succeed) approach from here on out on the forums. Let it be known that I have nothing against AirEvac personally and seriously hope their commitment to safety is what they say it is.

We lost three good people- including one of the best nurses I ever had the pleasure of knowing- and the best we can do to honor their memory is to learn from what happened (when we know what happened for sure) and do everything in our power- personally, collectively, professionally- to reduce the chance of it happening again. Pull together, comfort those left behind and be safe everyone.

[a_shane2_go]

My heart goes out to those involved. I heard about this incident shortly after my near death crash landing of my medical fixedwing a few days before hand.

[brentoli]

Indianapolis - The main rotor came off a medical helicopter before the craft crashed into a southeastern Indiana farm field, killing three crew members, authorities said Tuesday.

Decatur County Sheriff Daryl Templeton and National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Peter Knudson told The Associated Press that crews found rotor parts hundreds of yards away from the fuselage after the crash Sunday.

Investigators from the NTSB and FAA worked behind a closed hangar door at Greensburg Municipal Airport Tuesday. They spent the day looking at the wreckage and taking into account witness statements, including some reports that people saw parts of the helicopter fall to the ground before the crash.

"The rotor blades were separate from the wreckage by about 200 yards or so, so we're working through that. What the significance of that is, frankly, I don't know," said Tim sorensen, NTSB air safety investigator.

Investigators say it's unclear if the blades came off in mid-air or possibly on impact.

"Obviously there's a lot of energy in rotor blades and working components like that, so yes, that is a possibility," Sorenson said.

Witnesses told investigators that the helicopter's nose tipped down before it crashed and exploded in the field near the town of Burney, about 40 miles southeast of Indianapolis.

Flight nurse Sandra Pearson of Paoli, paramedic Wade Weston of Cambridge City and the pilot, Roger Warren of Michigan, were all killed in the crash Sunday afternoon near the Decatur County town of Burney.

About the victims

Warren resided in Otsego, Mich., near Kalamazoo, said Julie Heavrin, a company spokeswoman.

Weston, 38, resided in Cambridge City and was married with two daughters, the Richmond Palladium-Item reported in an obituary Tuesday.

Pearson, a 1988 graduate of Paoli High School, had worked at the Air Evac base in Paoli before transferring to the base in Rushville, The Times-Mail of Bedford reported. She had a 10-year-old son and 7-year-old daughter.

About 20 people are working on this investigation. They are broken up into smaller teams and one of the biggest challenges they're facing is finding all of the pieces of the aircraft.

"Visibility is limited due to the corn, so you actually have to get out and walk through it. So it's posing a challenge but it's nothing that can't be overcome," said Sorenson.

This is the second fatal crash in Indiana in the past four years for Missouri-based Air Evac Lifeteam. In 2004 a patient died when a company helicopter crashed in Evansville.

Also, an Air Evac helicopter made an emergency landing in a field near Evansville last January after the pilot decided visibility was too poor from heavy snowfall to continue the flight.

The NTSB is not expected to release the official cause of the crash for at least nine months, Knudson said.

Air Evac's four bases in Indiana were not accepting patient missions until crew members, many of whom had flown with those killed, could be assessed. "They will go back into operation when it is determined they are ready," the company said.

Air Evac's other Indiana bases are in Brazil, Evansville and Paoli. The company, which has its headquarters in West Plains, Mo., has 79 bases in 13 states.

The NTSB's Knudson said the agency's investigator was expected to remain at the crash scene through Wednesday. A preliminary report might be released as early as Friday, he said.

WTHR

[unknown]

My apologies AK. As I told Incognitogirl in a PM, part of my fire and brimstone approach here is the fact that I lost a friend in this crash and partly this coincided (to the day) with a loss in my family as well. If I was out of line, I apologize for that. Grief and anger got the better of me and for that I am sorry. While I still feel issues exist that need to be addressed, I will follow a less nasty (and therefore more likely to succeed) approach from here on out on the forums. Let it be known that I have nothing against AirEvac personally and seriously hope their commitment to safety is what they say it is.

We lost three good people- including one of the best nurses I ever had the pleasure of knowing- and the best we can do to honor their memory is to learn from what happened (when we know what happened for sure) and do everything in our power- personally, collectively, professionally- to reduce the chance of it happening again. Pull together, comfort those left behind and be safe everyone.

Thank You Punisher.

I don't think I have yet to read such a humble apology on these forums. It takes a Big person to be bold and speak out about things but it takes an even BIGGER person to apologize when needed.

So again thanks. And know this. It wasn't a lack of safety awareness that caused this crash. We are learning more and more and it will be a long time before we get answers but all things are starting to point to a rare catastrophic occurence..........but in due time the inspections will be complete and the answers will be known with out any questions at that time.