US EMS Helicopter Fatal Crash....Three Crew Killed

[SASless]

An Arkansa based EMS Helicopter belonging to Air Methods has crashed killing all three occupants aboard. Names were released but no useful information beyond the NTSB is investigating.

The Flight did not have a Patient onboard at the time of the accident.

http://www.thv11.com/news/local/3-dead-in-medical-helicopter-crash-in-arkansas-county/493227447

https://wtop.com/national/2017/11/3-dead-after-medical-helicopter-crash-in-eastern-arkansas/

[tottigol]

[QUOTE=SASless;9963929]An Arkansa based EMS Helicopter belonging to Air Methods has crashed killing all three occupants aboard. Names were released but no useful information beyond the NTSB is investigating.

The Flight did not have a Patient onboard at the time of the accident.

3 dead in medical helicopter crash near DeWitt | THV11.com (http://www.thv11.com/news/local/3-dead-in-medical-helicopter-crash-in-arkansas-county/493227447)

https://wtop.com/national/2017/11/3-dead-after-medical-helicopter-crash-in-eastern-arkansas/[/
QUOTE]

Nobody cares anymore.

[Lonewolf_50]

Nobody cares anymore.
What on earth makes you say that?
Dustin Ross, Director for Pafford Air One said in a statement, "We are all devastated and profoundly saddened by the tragic loss of these valued EMS colleagues and friends. We will continue to try and comfort the crew's families as well as everyone in our employ."
This crew was lost, and in time the "why" will be figured out. ( One of my classmates in college was from DeWitt, Arkansas. Lived right down the hall from me.)

[helonorth]

Rumor floating around they struck geese.

[Sir Korsky]

Nobody cares anymore.

The harsh truth as far as the general public see - just another EMS crash. More coffee??

Very sad.

[LRP]

Rumor floating around they struck geese.
I heard the same thing

[Helitech2316]

One of the crew is from my area. The EMS community around here is devastated by the loss. Prayers for all those involved.

[tottigol]

Do geese fly at night?

[tottigol]

Apparently yes.

[ShyTorque]

Geese and other large birds definitely fly at night. About twenty years ago my S76 was hit by a bird with a wingspan of around a metre. We knew that because of the marks from its wings, which wrapped around the upper cowling. It briefly blocked out my view of the cultural lighting behind it. It was after midnight during a casevac flight. Thankfully it hit just above the windscreen and did no real damage but the blood and guts took a lot of cleaning off. If it had hit the windscreen or the pitch control rods I might not be here writing this.

[PPRuNeUser0211]

I hit a mid-sized bird (large duck/small goose) on goggles, hit the other windscreen at an angle and ended up with some bits stuck to the left hand side window and wiper. Scared the crap out of both of us because neither of us saw it coming until about half a second before we hit it - goggles might let you see, but remember that sight would classify you legally blind!

In the American case, this sounds like another EMS tragedy. Thoughts with your community folks.

[ShyTorque]

Geese also brought down a Blackhawk in Norfolk (UK) only a few years ago.

I never knew they flew on goggles, though....

[SASless]

Red Tailed Hawk brought down an S-76 in Louisiana a while back...shoved the throttle quadrant back after hitting the top edge of the Windscreen Frame...caused a loss of engine power.

[MightyGem]

Do geese fly at night?
In my previous life, we were in the hover, at around 1000ft, dong a search with the FLIR camera, when a flock of geese flew under us. :eek:

[Gordy]

Took a bird into the wire strike kit on a 407 at night a few years back:

https://i.imgur.com/0nYGe8S.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/bGGbo9X.jpg

[Carbon Bootprint]

Red Tailed Hawk brought down an S-76 in Louisiana a while back...shoved the throttle quadrant back after hitting the top edge of the Windscreen Frame...caused a loss of engine power.If it's the one I'm thinking of that went down in the swamp in Terrebone Parish, it killed the crew and six pax, though one survived. However, that incident occurred in the afternoon rather than at night. If I'm not mistaken, there was some suspicion of an aftermarket acrylic windscreen as a contributing factor.

[HeliHenri]

.
Birds Strike : https://www.verticalmag.com/features/strikeavoidance/
.

[aerolearner]

If it's the one I'm thinking of that went down in the swamp in Terrebone Parish, it killed the crew and six pax, though one survived. However, that incident occurred in the afternoon rather than at night. If I'm not mistaken, there was some suspicion of an aftermarket acrylic windscreen as a contributing factor.
This accident is covered in the very first module of the new Rotorcraft section of the FAA Lessons Learned library.
Lessons Learned (http://lessonslearned.faa.gov/ll_main_rotor.cfm?TabID=1&LLID_ROTO=1)
The module discusses the impact of the windscreen modification and also includes some additional information about the threat of birdstrikes to helicopters.

[Carbon Bootprint]

Aerolearner, thanks for that link. It appears to be an interesting and very valuable resource for those who wish to learn from previous incidents. :ok:

[etudiant]

Surprised that people are unaware that birds migrate mostly at night. They use the day to feed. The nexrad radar in the US gives a ringside seat. One can watch the masses of birds take off at dusk and gradually settle in near dawn. UW-Madison Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences (http://tempest.aos.wisc.edu/radar/us3comphtml5.html)

[SASless]

On the 76 that crashed....the glass windshield had been replaced with a lighter non-glass windscreen. As I recall there was an issue with the Testing of the replacement as well as a reduced resistance to a bird strike.

Also, the wreckage was pressure washed and much of the bird remains were removed as a result.

That was an interesting event and generated much discussion here at Rotorheads.


PHI reached a Settlement in the Civil Suits that stemmed from the crash of the S-76C that collided with the Red Tailed Hawk.

http://www.pprune.org/archive/index.php/t-356837-p-2.html

https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=56849

[cats_five]

Surprised that people are unaware that birds migrate mostly at night. They use the day to feed. The nexrad radar in the US gives a ringside seat. One can watch the masses of birds take off at dusk and gradually settle in near dawn. UW-Madison Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences (http://tempest.aos.wisc.edu/radar/us3comphtml5.html)

Depends what sort of bird & where. Some routes they use thermals to help climb so obviously start during the morning.

[mnttech]

From the NTSB, Preliminary Report
On November 19, 2017, about 1855 central standard time, a Bell 407 helicopter, N620PA,
impacted terrain near Stuttgart, Arkansas. The pilot and two medical crew members were
fatally injured, and the helicopter was substantially damaged. The helicopter was registered to
and operated by Air Methods under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as
a positioning flight. Night visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the flight, which
operated on a company visual flight rules flight plan. The flight originated from Pines Bluff,
Arkansas, and was en route to pick up a patient in Helena, Arkansas.
Residents near the accident site reported hearing a boom and seeing a fire plume. Local law
enforcement located the wreckage on private property on the bank of a reservoir. A post impact
fire consumed a majority of the fuselage. All major helicopter components were located at the
accident site. Several bird carcasses were located in the wreckage of the helicopter.
The helicopter was retained for further examination.

[vaqueroaero]

NTSB: Bird carcasses found in medical helicopter wreckage (http://www.tampabay.com/ntsb-bird-carcasses-found-in-medical-helicopter-wreckage-ap_national756f302a36264ae0ad572bcb45ae53dc)

[ATN]

quote: Arkansas County Sheriff Todd Wright said at the time that a witness saw the helicopter spiral out of the sky, disturbing thousands of geese to the point that "they were louder than she had ever heard before."
I don't think so, is there a possibility that the aircraft hit the birds while "spiralling down out of the sky" ?

ATN

[SASless]

ATN,

Yes, I suppose so.

Logically and statistically.....No.

The odds of having a catastrophic mechanical failure immediately followed by hitting several Geese hard enough to have them wind up inside the aircraft.....well I would think winning the Powerball Lottery has better odds.

[henra]

ATN,

The odds of having a catastrophic mechanical failure immediately followed by hitting several Geese hard enough to have them wind up inside the aircraft.....well I would think winning the Powerball Lottery has better odds.

Exactly that.

Plus when spiralling down the forward speed and kinetic energy probably wouldn't be enough for the geese to penetrate the front screen.

It is always fascinating to which lengths people go in order to assume the weirdest possible accident scenario while there is one scenario with a 99% probability staring you right in the eyes....

[GreenKnight121]

One of the crew is from my area. The EMS community around here is devastated by the loss. Prayers for all those involved.

My youngest niece (pediatric emergency nurse for Mercy Medical Center, Des Moines, Iowa), was recently selected to join the air transport team, for emergency runs and transport runs involving children. She is thrilled - but this old ex-USMC avionics tech can't help but think about these sorts of incidents.