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

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-de...unty/493227447

https://wtop.com/national/2017/11/3-...tern-arkansas/

[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

https://wtop.com/national/2017/11/3-...tern-arkansas/[/
QUOTE]

Nobody cares anymore.

What on earth makes you say that?
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.)

Rumor floating around they struck geese.

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

Very sad.

I heard the same thing

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

Do geese fly at night?

Apparently yes.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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:

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

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.

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

This accident is covered in the very first module of the new Rotorcraft section of the FAA Lessons Learned library.
Lessons Learned
The module discusses the impact of the windscreen modification and also includes some additional information about the threat of birdstrikes to helicopters.

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:

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