Sorry, got it wrong with the bridge height, thought it was around 37ft or so. Of course, there is no excuse for that accident.
I also dismiss the ever repeating story about "Military training" and "Urge" to proof one´s merits.
If he gets caught in a rescue-mission, even when it is marginal, at least he tried to help. In this case it was pure show off for nothing.
If a well trained pilot, regardless who trained him, cannot refrain from stupid acts like this, he is in no way professional and should not be allowed in any EMS ship.
There should be plenty of ways to check people psychologically before hiring them.
All this is of course theory, if the only requirements are hours. If a civilian pilot cannot aquire these specialized hours or gets trained for the job, their only recourse is ex-military.
Though I doubt that the military trains pilots to do stupid stunts, their equipment is extremly expensive too!
Then there is still the old Macho-Camaradery-Ex Servicemember-Can do! - Bulls**t, taken over to the civilian life. I wonder how many pilots of this station tried the stunt before it went wrong!
Granted the military trains for mission success - losses acceptable.
However now we are out of the sandbox and mission-safety is/should be the #1-rule. Especially in EMS!
At least me thinks so.........
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