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Mercy Air CA crash, no survivors
Medical helicopter crashes, killing 3 crew members east of LA
Associated Press DEVORE, Calif. - A Medevac helicopter crashed late Sunday near the Cajon Pass, killing the pilot and two crew members, authorities said. The accident occurred about 6 p.m. as the Bell 412 utility helicopter left from Loma Linda Medical Center to its base in Victorville, said Ian Gregor, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration. The pilot may have encountered fog in the Cajon Pass and authorities were investigating the possibility the helicopter clipped some power lines before it crashed and burned, Gregor said. All three crew members aboard were killed. Their identities were not immediately released. No patients were aboard the aircraft. Several residents told authorities they saw the helicopter "in distress" before crashing, said Arden Wilshire, a spokeswoman for the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department. The helicopter belongs to Mercy Air Service, Inc., a subsidiary of Air Methods Corp., the nation's largest operator of air ambulances. Messages left for Mercy and Air Methods were not immediately returned Sunday. There are about 650 emergency medical service helicopters operating in the U.S., according to the FAA. A federal investigation earlier this year found there were 55 air ambulance accidents between 2002 and 2005. The number of Medevac fatalities doubled to 62 in the 2001-05 period from the previous five years. Federal safety investigators have recommended better pilot training, night vision goggles and crash avoidance systems to reduce air ambulance accidents. Emergency medical services pilots often fly in dangerous conditions and are pressured to save lives. Despite those hazards, the operators are under less government oversight than commercial airlines and face fewer government restrictions when they are flying without a patient. Devore is 55 miles northeast of Los Angeles. |
R.I.P. :(
Fly safe. |
Sad news as crews go through that mess all the time. If not the weather being a problem, its has miles of Power lines..
For those who are not familiar, it takes one from the L.A. Basin with its moist air up to the Mojave desert with its dry air. Sometimes you can watch the fog , roll over the Canyon and disappear in the desert. |
A steep and crooked climb up the mountains with Victorville at the top just over the crest....and as Bert says...lots of wires.
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Very sad. Added to the long list of EMS accidents happening at night in adverse weather.
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One of ours this time.
We are all speechless at this base even though very far from the accident location, it's still our a/c type. Our prayers and support goes to the families of those who perished. |
Local News Report
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names and few details
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Air Methods Corp. has a fleet of 208 medical transport helicopters that average 85,000 transports and 100,000 flight hours per year, Yale said, making it the largest private provider of air medical transport services in the country. The corporation has suffered four fatal crashes in the six years. In September of 2002, a helicopter crash killed three crew members near the 15 Freeway on the California-Nevada border. Is that the Mercy Air record or the Air Methods Corporate record? |
Air Methods Corporate record, if I recall correctly the last one for Mercy was in 2002 when a 222 shed a blade near Pahrump.
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Did they not have two in one day....not so long ago?
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A couple of years ago, 2004 I think, put an EC135 into the Potomac river in D.C. and plus or minus a few days an AStar in Mississippi.
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Not Again
Not two days later and someone did it again.
http://www.wgmd.com/newspost/fullnews.php?id=2293 :ugh: |
What your problem with me?
Hey Moderator, I put a post here last night and it never got on the board, which one of your rules did I break?
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