There is a lot to be said for skids
Professional pilots have been landing wheeled helicopters (ones much bigger and heavier than the usual EMS bird too, I might add) on "beaches" and "boggy parks" for many years now. I don't possess a massive brain for crash statistic recall, however I'm pretty sure that most aircraft that end up-side-down in the mud or sand did not do so because of the condition of the surface!
Might I suggest that it is probably because the pilot in command, for that split second (or longer duration, in some cases!
), was an idiot and allowed external factors (such as perceived pressure from people NOT in a position to comment on how a flight should be conducted) to get in the way of safe aviating?
Like all organisations, things change with the times. If the "old faithful" B412 has to give way to a more modern type in the future, this is called progress. Aircraft types will change, and so will the way they are flown in their various roles. So be it - we don't buy them, we just fly them!
Anyway, given the background of a lot of EMS pilots these days (military pilots with solid experience flying 22,000lb
wheeled helicopters), I'm sure that they, and the other professional pilots out there who worked through the GA ranks, will have no trouble working out how not to crash a 14,000lb AW139.
The Baffler
