Originally Posted by
SASless
As the situation stands currently....the Pilot accepted the flight and the aircraft crashed....killing all who were aboard.
It was dark, sparsely populated wooded terrain the aircraft was flying over.
The weather conditions appear to be an issue.
The Investigation will work to determine the most probable cause....be it mechanical or other.
One thing is for sure.....Management will not be held accountable by the FAA or NTSB.
It might very well be taken to task in some civil action....but so will the Pilot.
This as every such tragedy should result in "Lessons Learned" and probably shall.
Also, with absolute certainty we shall read yet another such Accident Report for exactly the same causes set forth in the coming Report.
EMS Helicopter Pilots must not be able to read and comprehend the written word based upon that.
Which makes this tragedy all the worse......daylight was about an hour away.....and we know how a simple factor such as flying in darkness affects the likelihood of a crash can be so pronounced.
Until the EMS Crews all accept they are not in the Life Saving business and are just providing safe, reliable, medical transportation by Helicopter....will the safety stats significantly improve.
Management has a major role to play in achieving that improvement.
Rather than critiquing flights that end in tragedy....perhaps the Industry should critique all of the flights that do not end in tragedy to ensure all of the Industry Best Practices are maintained.
The Crews themselves should be honest when they do their post flight critiques and feel free to accurately report up the chain of command the narrow misses that occurred.
But....I know with absolute certainty that is not something the industry will support.
With the advent of cheap, bare bones, community based EMS operations that must fly in order to pay the Bills.....the pressure is too fly....not reject flights.
Fancy words on slick advertising handouts....does not equate to reality far too often and we all know it.
Why aren't pilots aborting, diverting or landing when issues are encountered????