Texting While Flying Linked to Commercial Crash in First

[birrddog]

Did not see anything in the advanced search, so forgive me if covered in any of the other EMS threads.

Article covers an NTSB report that texting on a mobile phone was linked to the cause of a crash.

The Air Methods Corp. (AIRM) helicopter crashed in a field after running out of fuel, according to preliminary NTSB reports. Use of electronic devices by pilots during flight was prohibited by company rules, according to the reports.

Article can be found here (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-08/texting-while-flying-linked-to-commercial-crash-in-u-s-first.html).

[Brian Abraham]

Live NTSB Board meeting April 9, 2013 at 9:30 am ET

National Transportation Safety Board (http://www.capitolconnection.net/capcon/ntsb/ntsb.htm)

[Vertical Freedom]

hmmmmmm what came first, the chicken or the egg. From the article it appears he ran out of fuel.......is that during long winded texting, or he was texting a MAYDAY? :{

How can You be distracted for sooooooo long SMSing that You totally run out of fuel?? There is more here to this story than meets the eye :rolleyes:

I often SMS in-flight with important up-dates to operational staff whilst in the cruise & at a safe height. Hmmmm I can't see anything wrong with that? Reprogramming a GPS, radio frequencies changes, map refold & read, etc.etc. all cockpit distractions which done at the wrong time, wrong altitude etc all is hazardous?

Land Happy Always :cool:

VF

[Flyting]

I know a few people who spend a LOT of time on their phones while piloting :eek: so much so that the cockpit is their second office!!!
And I'm always waiting for that HOLY CRAP story to come out from them sooner or later...

I was told early on in my career to keep the office work onthe ground rather than in the air as it will kill you, and I have made this one of my rules...so much so, that I bought the Bose headset without blue tooth/cell connection :ugh::ugh::ugh:

[500e]

NTSB probes case of texting helicopter pilot (http://news.yahoo.com/ntsb-probes-case-texting-helicopter-pilot-072038860--finance.html)

[Arnie Madsen]

Another issue is the failed auto ....

[helihub]

There is more here to this story than meets the eye

Yes, and I don't think it's the actual texting..... Here are two key documents to this story - they are NTSB documents and thus do not have the media "we need to sell more copies" angle added to them. Click [Download] button in each case

Timeline of pilot communications before the accident (http://dms.ntsb.gov/pubdms/search/document.cfm?docID=380784&docketID=51714&mkey=81607)

Factual Report of [investigating] Group Chairman (http://dms.ntsb.gov/pubdms/search/document.cfm?docID=380782&docketID=51714&mkey=81607) - yes he was texting, yes it was against company policy, but the way I read this report, he may have had other distractions as well?

[SASless]

Well now.....Texting and helicopter crashes....where have we heard that song before recently?

[rotorfan]

This one hits close to home (literally, accident site less than 25NM from home). Those that think there's more than meets the eye are correct. Can't give details, but a couple hours of unprofessionalism preceeded the wreck.

I have had distractions during preflights, and made mistakes. But, NEVER have I not checked fuel. It's hard to imagine, as it is ingrained from the earliest training.

Arnie said "Another issue is the failed auto ...." Yeah, minor detail. Lessee, still daylight, the land in that area is mostly rural/agriculture so plenty of open spaces, fairly flat, with few treed areas .... really makes one wonder about proficiency. If one were that low on fuel, wouldn't you be spring-loaded to expect an auto? Poor flight planning, too, as the final LZ was only 7 miles beyond the intended interim fuel stop. That inner voice must have been telling him how low the fuel really was...

[tottigol]

Well, Darwin hard at work again.
Pity for the collateral damage.

The Employer should be made to pay the full price by the survivors for failing to check on this pilot.

[alouette3]

Tottigol,
How does the employer do that, in your opinion?. He had the credentials and so they hired him. He was, apparently by all accounts, a competent pilot, passed his check rides and served well for 8 months. Besides, this is a helicopter operator. I don't know which universe you belong in but in mine most helicopters in the EMS industry are single pilot.So,I ask again, how does an employer "check on this pilot"?
There are regulations and company operational procedures and he violated quite a few of them. So when do we start taking personal responsibility for ourselves and our colleagues and stop blaming others such as the employer or the government for our poor decisions?
I will wait patiently for your response. I really need you to expand on your gem. Maybe you have discovered the way to 100% safety. Do share.
Alt3

[1969shelby]

Maybe people will be more accountable after the insurance companies chime in on this accident, and raise the minimums. It seems to be the SOP. I just read the report published in Rotor and Wing, and the causes go beyond just texting. I'm assuming that the pilot in question had 2000+ hours with all necissary ratings, yet he failed to control all aspects of the flight from start to finish (even failing to recognize the need to, need to enter an auto). The govenments verbage is vague in the article, so please tell me if I read it correctly or not. Anyway, my guess is that this accident will bring about changes that alter company policy accross the industry as it pertains to experience.

[Devil 49]

If you are interested, there are a number of documents at this link:

Document 8 Air Methods GPS Tracking Data N352LN Filing Date September 23, 2011 0 page(s) of Data Photos (http://dms.ntsb.gov/pubdms/search/document.cfm?docID=354567&docketID=51714&mkey=81607)

[LRP]

This whole "texting while flying" portion of the report is in my opinion not relevant to the accident. The aircraft had an engine failure due to fuel exhaustion, but the fatalities occurred due to the pilot's inability to perform a power off landing. That inability was not due to texting, it was due to the fact that this kid hadn't done a touchdown autorotation since he was in Primary Training IERW, and that training was in a high inertia rotor system (Bell 206B3). He flew D model 64's in the military, so all of his "auto's" were placing the collective full down with the power levers in "fly", and it appears that his AStar training was the same. He was simply not prepared to land an AStar power off. If he had never owned a cell phone, had plenty of gas, and had an engine fail due to material failure in the same location, the outcome would have been the same (except for a likely post-crash fire).

[SASless]

Fuel Exhaustion caused the crash.

What was he thinking about while he flew the machine out of fuel?

After the fuel low warning lights came on....what was he doing/thinking?

Your points about the lack of adequate EOL training in the particular aircraft Type is valid but that weakness could have been avoided had he just landed the helicopter next to a road somewhere and called for a fuel bowser.

Judgement cannot be taught....and he certainly showed a huge lack of that as demonstrated by running out of fuel.

After that happened....the rest was just icing on the cake.

Matter of fact....what was the Med Crew doing all this time?

[LRP]

We'll have to agree to disagree. Fuel exhaustion caused the engine to fail, the crash was caused by his inability to land the helicopter power off. There's no question that there was very poor judgement and decision making involved in the chain of events, but there was no reason for the fatalities. When a single engine helicopter pilot is not adequately trained to land the aircraft power off, it's an accident waiting for the right circumstance...fuel exhaustion, material failure, maintenance errors, whatever.

[Vertical Freedom]

LRP is Right on the money :uhoh: :ok:

Land Happy Always :p