From another EMS pilot
This is an interesting thread.
If I may weigh in.
This crash seems to have been pilot error in operating the autopilot coupled with failure to monitor the instruments to see that the autopilot was keeping the aircraft where the pilot wanted it to. I would say that messing with the radios was the main distraction as she was having trouble reaching the FD on the ground. The crews in the back should be handling that function in my opinion.
Proper use of the RADALT could of prevented this. HTAWS like I have in my aircraft could of prevented it. NVG's are essential in this type of dark terrain flying. She basically states that on this particular flight she is never complying with 135.207. I have violated that in the past. One night my hairs stood up on the back of my kneck a little too high. I no longer do it. I could of crashed like this gal, I was over rough terrain in an unoccupied national forest, it would not of ended so well.
I do this job currently and I love the HTAWS I have. It has wx radar, metars, etc., traffic (relies on ground equip. though so not always available, so we need to go to a true stand alone system like I used in the GOM), But the terrain warning feature on this equipment is the cats meow.
What is the one thing that makes night so much more dangerous than day? This isn't rocket science guys. You can't frickin see. How many more car crashes you think there would be if engineers hadn't invented headlights? Headlights are useless of course at altitude since there is nothing out front to illuminate. So NVG's are our equivilant answer. My company is installing them now and will be 100% compliant on both HTAWS and NVG's and they will become regulatory. Guarantee you that.
My 2 cents in short: Yes this accident could of been prevented with the tech on board. Probably illegal to start with though (135.207). Almost certainly wouldn't of happened with HTAWS and NVG's. But even with all these tools occasionally somebody will still plow one in. But I for one believe it will become much more rare, and I know I will feel and be safer with them.