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Texting while flying linked to fatal medevac crash

4/10/2013

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The NTSB will gather Tuesday to give a cause for the accident in August 2011 that killed four people


WASHINGTON — A medevac pilot was sending and receiving text messages before a crash that killed all four people on board, it emerged Monday.


Bloomberg.com reported that it's the first time such distractions have been implicated in a fatal commercial aviation accident.

The NTSB will gather Tuesday to give a cause for the accident in August 2011 that killed four people – patient Terry Tacoronte, Pilot James Freudenbert, Randy Bever, a flight nurse, and Chris Frakes, a paramedic – and to discuss the documented seven texts sent and received by the pilot prior to the crash, according to the article.

Freudenbert, 34, disclosed to a coworker before the crash that he hadn’t slept well the night before his flight and he failed to refuel the helicopter before flying to a hospital in Bethany, Missouri, according to NTSB records.

He recognized the mistake after landing at the hospital and spoke to a company dispatcher about where he could get more fuel and was headed to Midwest National Air Center Airport before the helicopter crashed, according to Bloomberg.

The Air Methods Corp. (AIRM) helicopter crashed in a field after running out of fuel. Electronic devices used by pilots during flight are prohibited by company rules, according to the reports. 

“This is a classic example of dividing attention in a way that compromises safety,” David Strayer, a psychology professor at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City who has studied how personal electronic devices cause distraction, told Bloomberg.

Full article: http://www.ems1.com/air-medical-transport/articles/1429050-Texting-while-flying-linked-to-fatal-medevac-crash/

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Autistic man rescued after 3 weeks in Utah desert

7/14/2012

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By Dan Elliott
Associated Press

DENVER — An autistic man lived on frogs and roots as he wandered for weeks in the remote Escalante Desert of southern Utah until being rescued, emaciated but alive.

William Martin LaFever, 28, of Colorado Springs, Colo., told rescuers that in addition to the bits of food he scavenged, including a few frogs he caught, he drank water from the Escalante River while attempting to walk from Boulder, Utah, to

Page, Ariz., a distance of approximately 90 miles or more by the route he appeared to be taking.

The Garfield County Sheriff's Department estimated he had traveled about 40 miles over at least three weeks before he was found Thursday.

"It is some of the most rugged, unforgiving terrain you will find anywhere on Earth, jagged cliffs, stone ledges, sandstone, sagebrush, juniper," sheriff's spokeswoman Becki Bronson said in a telephone interview.

"Where William was hiking, there just isn't anyone out there," she said. "There are no people. There are no towns."

The sheriff's department said it was remarkable that searchers aboard a helicopter were able to find LaFever at all, much less alive.

Deputy Ray Gardner, who had recently completed training in search and rescue operations for people with autism and was aboard the helicopter, said LaFever would not have survived another 24 hours.

The helicopter took LaFever to Garfield Memorial Hospital in Panguitch. The hospital said it could not release any information on his condition.

http://www.ems1.com/search-rescue/articles/1314518-Autistic-man-rescued-after-3-weeks-in-Utah-desert/


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Patients deaths linked to inadequate helicopter interior

6/9/2012

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By Maria Babbage
The Canadian Press

TORONTO - Ornge failed to do its job when it spent $6 million on medical interiors for its new helicopters that didn't allow paramedics to perform CPR and other life-saving procedures at all times, a former top executive testified Wednesday.

Tom Lepine, who was fired as Ornge's chief operating officer, said he only discovered the problem with the medical interiors of the AW-139 helicopters in late 2010, after the first chopper went into service.

Ornge paid $144 million for 12 helicopters from Italian firm AgustaWestland, whose dealings with Ornge have come under intense scrutiny. It also paid $6 million for the Swiss-manufactured Aerolite medical interiors.

Lepine, a former paramedic, acknowledged that Ornge didn't ensure that the helicopter interiors were suitable when it made the deal.

"I think it was an absolute failure of process that there was no prototype done," he told a legislative committee.

"That would have been caught if we had done a prototype and it was not done."

Full Story: http://www.ems1.com/air-medical-transport/articles/1295689-5-incidents-resulting-in-patient-death-linked-to-ORNGE-helicopter-interiors/


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Angel Flight East

5/24/2012

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Angel Flight East provides free air transportation to patients requiring medical treatment in distant hospitals.
The volunteer pilots perform life-saving missions at no charge and even pay for the flight time from their own pockets (!).
Without this amazing service, patients would have to endure lengthy and inconvenient road travel at a considerable cost.
The organization is currently managed by Adam Zucker, an energetic lawyer and private pilot from Pennsylvania.
This is a clear proof that some lawyers have hearts ( :-) and that angels do exist !

http://www.angelflighteast.org/


Vote for Angel Flight East
Your Vote Counts! Click to Vote.
Please vote for Angel Flight East !
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Australia’s RFDS adds five Beechcraft King Air to the fleet

2/16/2012

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With the vast distances of Australia, aerial medical transport is a critical service to many of the country’s citizens. The Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS), an organization that has provided medical services since 1928, has added three King Air B200Cs and two 350Cs to its fleet of approximately 60 aircraft, which covered nearly 38,000 nautical miles in 2010.

“The King Air turboprops are the ideal choice for the Royal Flying Doctors air ambulance missions as they feature large pressurized environmentally controlled cabins with high cruise speeds and the payload/range required to expeditiously transport critical-care patients,” said Jay Gibson, vice president, Special Missions and Corporate Government Relations.
http://www.flyingmag.com/news/australia%E2%80%99s-rfds-adds-five-king-airs?cmpid=021412&spPodID=030




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www.planespictures.net
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How to safely land an helicopter

2/2/2012

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http://photos.markusherzig.com
Our colleagues from REGA perform hundreds of medical evacuations every year.
Watch the video they prepared on how to safely land helicopters.

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Air ambulance design puts patients at risk

2/1/2012

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http://www.yourottawaregion.com
__"Dr. Bruce Sawadsky calls the cramped interior of the brand new AW 139 helicopter a "high risk environment"

ORNGE's medical director has checked out the medical interior of the air ambulance's multimillion-dollar helicopters and found a disaster waiting to happen.Dr. Bruce Sawadsky, in a report written Monday, calls the cramped interior of the brand new AW 139 helicopter a "high risk environment."

His findings? Tough to do CPR. Hard to prop up a patient who is having difficulty breathing. Takes too long to load and unload a patient. Risky, too. Many equipment malfunctions.

Even though paramedics have been warning the province and ORNGE for more than a year, it took until this week for somebody to act.

Ontario taxpayers funded the $144 million purchase of the 12 helicopters (10 are flying) and $7.2 million spent to design and install the medical interiors. The new helicopters went into service in December 2010.

http://www.ems1.com/air-medical-transport/articles/1228291-Air-ambulance-design-puts-patients-at-risk-says-Canada-doctor/


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http://flickrhivemind.net/Tags/center,helo/Interesting
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Helicopter accidents - can new rules save lives ?

1/29/2012

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http://genevalunch.com
_












Time Magazine published this article in 2009
(http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1876095,00.html#ixzz1kpOhgMXo)
The article claims that EMS helicopters in the U.S. are not adequately equipped for medical missions and that many of the accidents could have been prevented if the following measures had been implemented:
  • Mandatory requirement for a 2 pilot crew ( less cockpit workload )
  • Mandatory requirement for IFR certified and IFR current pilots.
  • Mandatory requirement for TCAS and GPWS ( Traffic Collision Avoidance System & Ground Proximity   Warning System)
  • Cockpit weather data-link ( XM Weather )
  • Strict protocols restricting flying in dangerous conditions
Pilots testified that the above measures are not being implemented out of financial considerations and budget constraints.
It appears the FAA needs to urgently address this issue by issuing clear and obligatory directives.

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Fatal Helicopter Accidents Blamed on Human Error

1/27/2012

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_The NTSB has blamed two recent fatal accidents of medical helicopters on human error.
The air medical industry in the United States suffers from a significant percentage of fatal accidents.
The FAA recently addressed this issue and provided several recommendations regarding various safety issues
( http://lnkd.in/AfrVij )
Also read the Time Magazine article at: http://lnkd.in/H2M_zS
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http://www.flightglobal.com
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