Special Report: Air Ambulances: Recent crashes show risk of emergency flights
Special Report: Air Ambulances
Recent crashes show risk of emergency flights
These are details of some of the most recent medical helicopter crashes:
On June 29, 2008, seven people died when two helicopters crashed into each other near Flagstaff (AZ) Medical Center. One helicopter ferrying a patient with a medical emergency from the Grand Canyon collided with another chopper carrying a patient, leaving seven people dead and critically injuring a nurse. The collision, at 3:45 p.m., was a few hundred yards away from a neighborhood that was spared the falling debris, but it sparked a 10-acre brush fire. An explosion on one of the aircraft after the crash injured two emergency workers who arrived with a ground ambulance company.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) report on the crash says the recorded transmissions made between both medical crews and the hospital revealed that both of the medical crews contacted the ED at the hospital and provided medical reports on their respective patients: "At the time Angel 1 contacted the hospital, they provided an estimated time of arrival in 15 minutes. The Classic Helicopter Services medical crew reported an estimated time of arrival of 18 minutes. The hospital staff that received the phone calls from both aircraft did not provide any information about the other helicopter that was also en route to the Flagstaff Medical Center helipad."
Several people witnessed the collision of the helicopters as they approached the hospital helipad and reported seeing both helicopters descending into wooded terrain about ¼ mile from the heliport. A surveillance camera, mounted on a parking garage at the hospital, captured the collision on digital video. The video depicted one helicopter approaching from north and one helicopter approaching from the south, and shows both aircraft descending after the collision.
A helicopter crashed on an isolated ranch in a national forest near Huntsville, TX, on June 6, 2008, killing a patient and three crew members. The aircraft, operated by PHI Air Medical Helicopter, was taking a 58-year-old patient from a hospital in Huntsville to another facility in Houston for surgery. The helicopter left the first hospital at 2:45 a.m., and the hospital lost contact with it after only two minutes.
A medical helicopter crashed on Sept. 28, 2008, after the pilot lost his bearings in foggy weather near Andrews Air Force Base in District Heights, MD. The crash killed four of the people on board the pilot, a paramedic, an emergency medical technician, and one of the two traffic accident victims being transported. The second patient survived the crash but was in critical condition.
The helicopter was returning to the hospital when it was diverted to the Air Force base because of fog. The pilot radioed that he was having difficulty assessing his surroundings, twice asking for assistance with landing. Then air traffic controllers lost contact with him, and the helicopter crashed about 1:15 a.m., three miles from the base.
These are details of some of the most recent medical helicopter crashes:Subscribe Now for Access
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