SASless
7th Feb 2004, 20:03
This article was found at Just Helicopters and was published at www.keloland.com , quotes a newspaper article. If true...makes Management at Omniflight look a bit desparate for pilots. South Dakota can be a very dark place at night. Sounds darker than normal somehow.
Pilot, two Medical crew, and the patient were all killed in a night-time crash in foggy weather. Pilot was alledged to be on a 25 flying hour probation when it occurred. Reckon he failed the probation?
CAREFLIGHT Crash Settlement
New evidence has uncovered pilot error was the reason Avera St. Lukes CAREFLIGHT helicopter crashed on September 9th, 2002, killing all four people on board.
As a result, the family of flight paramedic Andy Willey was awarded a 2.2 million dollar settlement by the helicopter owner Omniflight when investigators uncovered that pilot Masaaki Suzuki was not qualified to fly under certain night time conditions. Investigators hired by Willey's lawyers also say there was no mechanical problems with the helicopter.
Suzuki had close calls before when he flew CAREFLIGHT and it has been revealed that even Gail Houck and Andy Willey did not want to fly with Suzuki on the night the aircraft crashed. But what's more troubling is a large company's refusal to fix a problem everyone knew it had.
Its a sight few will ever forget as investigators surround the crash site of CAREFLIGHT in a field just outside of Doland. Omniflight owned the helicopter and also was in charge of training it's pilot Masaaki Suzuki.
Attorney Ken Gosch says, "This was a pilot who had known limitations and placed on probation. They were short of pilots, they had two pilots working on the night shift because this pilot wasn't allowed to work night shift. The company released him to work night shift on the condition that they would see how he did over the next 25 hours."
Investigators have discovered that even company officials told Omniflight that Suzuki was not a good pilot.
Gosch: "There was a memo that said "how much risk are we willing to take letting him get on the job training." Five flight hours latter he flew that aircraft into the ground killing four people."
It is believed Suzuki became disoriented in the foggy skies near Doland and tried to turn back to Aberdeen when the helicopter crashed. Now Omniflight admits some negligence in the training of Suzuki and settled a law suit from Willey's family out of court. Omniflight wanted to keep the settlement a secret, but Gosch told them he would never agree to those terms.
Gosch: "I want the public to know what happened here and I don't want this to happen again. I want these big companies to know they need to pay attention and to protect the public."
The final FAA report still hasn't been released to the public. The family of Peter Carter, who was the patient on board the helicopter when it was heading to Sioux Falls, has also settled out of court, but their terms are confidential. Gail Houcks four sons are also bringing a law suit against Omniflight, but according to their lawyers, has not been settled.
Pilot, two Medical crew, and the patient were all killed in a night-time crash in foggy weather. Pilot was alledged to be on a 25 flying hour probation when it occurred. Reckon he failed the probation?
CAREFLIGHT Crash Settlement
New evidence has uncovered pilot error was the reason Avera St. Lukes CAREFLIGHT helicopter crashed on September 9th, 2002, killing all four people on board.
As a result, the family of flight paramedic Andy Willey was awarded a 2.2 million dollar settlement by the helicopter owner Omniflight when investigators uncovered that pilot Masaaki Suzuki was not qualified to fly under certain night time conditions. Investigators hired by Willey's lawyers also say there was no mechanical problems with the helicopter.
Suzuki had close calls before when he flew CAREFLIGHT and it has been revealed that even Gail Houck and Andy Willey did not want to fly with Suzuki on the night the aircraft crashed. But what's more troubling is a large company's refusal to fix a problem everyone knew it had.
Its a sight few will ever forget as investigators surround the crash site of CAREFLIGHT in a field just outside of Doland. Omniflight owned the helicopter and also was in charge of training it's pilot Masaaki Suzuki.
Attorney Ken Gosch says, "This was a pilot who had known limitations and placed on probation. They were short of pilots, they had two pilots working on the night shift because this pilot wasn't allowed to work night shift. The company released him to work night shift on the condition that they would see how he did over the next 25 hours."
Investigators have discovered that even company officials told Omniflight that Suzuki was not a good pilot.
Gosch: "There was a memo that said "how much risk are we willing to take letting him get on the job training." Five flight hours latter he flew that aircraft into the ground killing four people."
It is believed Suzuki became disoriented in the foggy skies near Doland and tried to turn back to Aberdeen when the helicopter crashed. Now Omniflight admits some negligence in the training of Suzuki and settled a law suit from Willey's family out of court. Omniflight wanted to keep the settlement a secret, but Gosch told them he would never agree to those terms.
Gosch: "I want the public to know what happened here and I don't want this to happen again. I want these big companies to know they need to pay attention and to protect the public."
The final FAA report still hasn't been released to the public. The family of Peter Carter, who was the patient on board the helicopter when it was heading to Sioux Falls, has also settled out of court, but their terms are confidential. Gail Houcks four sons are also bringing a law suit against Omniflight, but according to their lawyers, has not been settled.