Bell 206L Tail Rotor LTE Accident

[SASless]

Pilot is a former US Army Blackhawk pilot, had 15 hours in type and 4 hours EMS experience operationally. Night, confined area, max weight.....I would suggest someone loaded, cocked, and pointed the pistol at this guys head. All he did was pull the "trigger".:(


The Morning News
Local News for Northwest Arkansas

Pilot blamed in fatal crash
By Don Dailey
The Morning News

The National Transportation Safety Board is blaming the pilot in a medical helicopter crash that killed a patient in western Benton County in February 2005.

The Air Evac Lifeteam air ambulance based in Claremore, Okla., crashed in a pasture just after taking off from the front yard of a rural home on Arkansas 43 near Cherokee City. There were three crew members and one patient on board.

The patient, Robert Arneson, 71, of Harlingen, Texas, was injured in a one-vehicle accident and was alive when he was loaded into the Bell 206 Long Ranger helicopter, according to official reports.

A report by the NTSB released Tuesday said the probable cause of the crash was "The pilot's improper decision to maneuver in an environment conducive to a loss of tail rotor effectiveness, and his failure to properly execute an autorotation, which resulted in a hard landing. A contributing factor was the prevailing crosswind."

Dennis Enders of Broken Arrow, Okla., was the pilot. Paramedic Clayton Bratt and nurse Dee Ann Miller were also aboard. All three were taken to Northwest Arkansas hospitals.

Julie Heavrin, spokeswoman for Air Evac, said the company is satisfied with the NTSB report.

She would not comment on the employment status of Enders, saying the company doesn't comment on personnel matters.

The pilot reported he was concerned about clearing power lines and when the craft reached an altitude slightly below the power lines it began turning to the right without the pilot's input. The pilot attempted to fly out of the turn, but the helicopter began to spin to the right and descend, the report said.

The report also noted the flight to pick up the patient was expected to take 20-30 minutes from the Claremore base, but actually took 48 minutes because the pilot had difficulty finding the site of the car crash.

[imabell]

well you do tend to get a loss of tail rotor effectiveness when you are heavy, going vertical and you run out of power.

lte, the greatest excuse around for basic aircraft mishandling.:rolleyes:

it doesn't take much to get full left pedal in a loaded helicopter. not identifying that problem is the problem.:ugh:

[Revolutionary]

Imabell, I know you love Bells and all, but you must admit that a LongRanger just isn't suited for this kind of work -as this incident illustrates. I mean, how heavy can a 71 year old guy be? And in the wintertime? And still run out of power? What kind of EMS helicopter is that?

By the way I think it's a little harsh to state that the helicopter crash killed the patient. No need to saddle the pilot with that, too.

[Chairmanofthebored]

Imabell is right. It doesn't matter what it is; LTE is just an excuse for taking off and overpitching. The LR is fine in this work if you use it within its flight envelope.

[Revolutionary]

Well, following that logic, a Bell 47 is fine for EMS, too, if you just use the basket on the skid. However, it's 2006 and there's better equipment available.

Sure, the pilot brought this accident upon himself but as SASless points out, the deck was stacked against him. This accident was part of a rash of crashes involving this operator. And of course, all had an element of pilot error. But clearly, there was a systemic failure too.

Take this guy. New hire. Cut loose after a total of ten days training with 11 hours on type in his logbook. Not used to EMS. Not used to operating an aircraft alone. And to top it all off, he's a Blackhawk pilot, obviously not used to having to nurse an underpowered helicopter into the air.

Thankfully, this operator identified the shortcomings in its training and support of new pilots and made great strides to improve those areas. Their accident rate has been much lower lately.

There's always something causing pilot error, and it ain't always stupidity.

[topendtorque]

But clearly, there was a systemic failure too.

Take this guy. not used to having to nurse an underpowered helicopter into the air.


There's always something causing pilot error, and it ain't always stupidity.

Now what was it that imabell said?

[Revolutionary]

I Don't know. What was it that Imabell said? Why don't you enlighten us with your input topendtorque?

[B Sousa]

"altitude slightly below the power lines it began turning to the right without the pilot's input."

They have a tendancy to do that when the Pilot input has the left pedal through the chin bubble.

Company no doubt in haste to get a Pilot out of the office and on the job. Pilot trying to keep his job, Inexperience (it aint a Blackhawk with tons of power), four folks and all the bandaids, fuel on board.......... all little links that cause an accident.

BUT just say NO one time and go find another job.