Paramedic helicopter down in Florida
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Paramedic helicopter down in Florida
Martin County is on the east coast of FL, about 40 miles north of Palm Beach. This from The Stuart News:
3 on LifeStar shaken by crash
The pilot and two paramedics were forced down Tuesday in west St. Lucie County.
December 18, 2003
STUART — LifeStar helicopter pilot Keith Swinny couldn't say much while recovering from the crash landing he made Tuesday with two Martin County paramedics on board.
But the quiet and thankful way he said his few words told the story.
"I'm fine, I'm doing fine, thanks," Swinny said from his room at St. Mary's Medical Center in West Palm Beach on Wednesday.
Swinny was a little banged up, "but otherwise doing fine," he said. "No one on the aircraft had any permanent injuries, I can tell you that."
Paramedics Harry Ramsey and Robert Udinski were returning with Swinny from Sebring on Tuesday night when the helicopter developed engine trouble.
It went down in a field on the V-Bar-2 ranch about 1 1/2 miles east of the Okeechobee County line and a half-mile north of Okeechobee Road in St. Lucie County.
Initial reports indicated the engine lost all power before the helicopter hit the ground. The landing skids were damaged, but the aircraft otherwise remained intact.
Ramsey was released from St. Mary's early Wednesday. Swinny and Udinski remained hospitalized overnight.
Udinski was in the hospital's intensive care unit, but officials said his injuries were not life- threatening.
Swinny wouldn't discuss details of the crash before speaking with officials from the National Transportation Safety Board and from C.J. Systems Aviation Group, the company that owns the helicopter.
But another helicopter pilot and friend of Swinny said he has no doubt Swinny saved himself and the two medics with his actions.
"He's a very good pilot. I'm sure he did everything by the book. I wouldn't hesitate one minute to put my own kids in an aircraft with him, and that's saying a lot," said Carmine Dipaolo, owner of Treasure Coast Helicopters and a pilot for 23 years.
Dipaolo wouldn't speculate on the cause of the LifeStar crash but said it sounded like Swinny "autorotated in."
When that happens, the rotor blades are allowed to turn free of the engine and transmission, with only the forward airspeed to keep the rotors turning, Dipaolo said. It is standard procedure in a power-off landing.
"You maintain a 65-knot airspeed to the ground and then prior to the ground at about 25 feet, you flare the helicopter to stop the forward movement, and you can touch down very smoothly," Dipaolo said.
Jim Loffredo, district chief with Martin County Fire Rescue, said the department will rely on mutual aid from St. Lucie and Palm Beach counties for medical airlift services "for a couple of days."
"By then we'll have another helicopter from Corporate Jet and be back in the air," Loffredo said.
Loffredo said other fire rescue personnel are cross- trained to fly in the medical helicopters, so there won't be any problem staffing the new helicopter.
The National Transportation Safety Board will be the lead agency investigating the cause of the crash, Loffredo said.
3 on LifeStar shaken by crash
The pilot and two paramedics were forced down Tuesday in west St. Lucie County.
December 18, 2003
STUART — LifeStar helicopter pilot Keith Swinny couldn't say much while recovering from the crash landing he made Tuesday with two Martin County paramedics on board.
But the quiet and thankful way he said his few words told the story.
"I'm fine, I'm doing fine, thanks," Swinny said from his room at St. Mary's Medical Center in West Palm Beach on Wednesday.
Swinny was a little banged up, "but otherwise doing fine," he said. "No one on the aircraft had any permanent injuries, I can tell you that."
Paramedics Harry Ramsey and Robert Udinski were returning with Swinny from Sebring on Tuesday night when the helicopter developed engine trouble.
It went down in a field on the V-Bar-2 ranch about 1 1/2 miles east of the Okeechobee County line and a half-mile north of Okeechobee Road in St. Lucie County.
Initial reports indicated the engine lost all power before the helicopter hit the ground. The landing skids were damaged, but the aircraft otherwise remained intact.
Ramsey was released from St. Mary's early Wednesday. Swinny and Udinski remained hospitalized overnight.
Udinski was in the hospital's intensive care unit, but officials said his injuries were not life- threatening.
Swinny wouldn't discuss details of the crash before speaking with officials from the National Transportation Safety Board and from C.J. Systems Aviation Group, the company that owns the helicopter.
But another helicopter pilot and friend of Swinny said he has no doubt Swinny saved himself and the two medics with his actions.
"He's a very good pilot. I'm sure he did everything by the book. I wouldn't hesitate one minute to put my own kids in an aircraft with him, and that's saying a lot," said Carmine Dipaolo, owner of Treasure Coast Helicopters and a pilot for 23 years.
Dipaolo wouldn't speculate on the cause of the LifeStar crash but said it sounded like Swinny "autorotated in."
When that happens, the rotor blades are allowed to turn free of the engine and transmission, with only the forward airspeed to keep the rotors turning, Dipaolo said. It is standard procedure in a power-off landing.
"You maintain a 65-knot airspeed to the ground and then prior to the ground at about 25 feet, you flare the helicopter to stop the forward movement, and you can touch down very smoothly," Dipaolo said.
Jim Loffredo, district chief with Martin County Fire Rescue, said the department will rely on mutual aid from St. Lucie and Palm Beach counties for medical airlift services "for a couple of days."
"By then we'll have another helicopter from Corporate Jet and be back in the air," Loffredo said.
Loffredo said other fire rescue personnel are cross- trained to fly in the medical helicopters, so there won't be any problem staffing the new helicopter.
The National Transportation Safety Board will be the lead agency investigating the cause of the crash, Loffredo said.
