Pilot, Two Nurses Fatally Injured In Early-Morning
Accident
The NTSB has released its preliminary report in the crash of a
medical helicopter which went down in the early morning hours of
March 25th near Brownsville, TN. The pilot and two medical
personnel were injured fatally as a result of the accident. The
pilot reportedly said he was trying to beat a thunderstorm back to
his home base.
NTSB Identification: ERA10MA188
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Thursday, March 25, 2010 in Brownsville, TN
Aircraft: EUROCOPTER AS-350-B3, registration: N855HW
Injuries: 3 Fatal.
This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may
contain errors. Any errors in this report will be corrected when
the final report has been completed.
On March 25, 2010, at 0600 CDT, a
Eurocopter AS-350-B3, operated by Memphis Medical Center Air
Ambulance Service, doing business as Hospital Wing, was destroyed
when it impacted terrain while approaching Brownsville, Tennessee.
The certificated commercial pilot and two flight nurses were
fatally injured. Night instrument meteorological conditions were
present in the area. The flight was operating on a company flight
plan, and departed Jackson-Madison County General Hospital Heliport
(TN05), Jackson, Tennessee, en route to Haywood County EMS Heliport
(TN99), Brownsville, Tennessee. The positioning flight was
conducted under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations
Part 91.
According to helicopter satellite
tracking, and company information, the helicopter initially
departed TN99, the helicopter’s home base, at 0426, and
arrived in Parsons, Tennessee, at 0450 to embark a patient. The
helicopter departed Parsons at 0517, and arrived at TN05, to
disembark the patient, at 0534. The helicopter subsequently
departed TN05 at 0551, and the last satellite contact occurred near
the accident site at 0600. Satellite-recorded helicopter en route
altitudes during the last flight segment were about 1,000 feet
above mean sea level (msl), until the last contact, when the
helicopter’s altitude indicated 752 feet.
According to an oncoming shift pilot,
who started his duty at 0530, it was dark and cloudy when he
arrived at TN99, with light rain. When he entered the hangar, he
noticed that the helicopter was gone. He was concerned about the
weather and called MEDCOM, a flight following center, to locate the
helicopter, which was then on the pad at TN05. After hanging up
with MEDCOM, the accident pilot called the oncoming pilot via cell
phone, and asked about the weather, as there was a small shower
between Jackson and Brownsville. The accident pilot stated that
“he wanted to get the helicopter out,” and the oncoming
pilot asked, “Can you park it?” The accident pilot then
responded that another helicopter already occupied the lower
elevation pad, which the oncoming pilot took to mean that the
accident pilot didn’t want to leave the helicopter on the
hospital’s elevated pad.
The two pilots further discussed the
weather, and the oncoming pilot noted, from a computer-based radar
depiction, that there was a front coming from the Memphis area at a
speed of about 25 miles per hour. At the time, the radar was
depicting “red” over Memphis, and “yellow”
extending about 10 miles out.
The accident pilot then stated that he
figured he had about 18 minutes to get the helicopter back to base,
to beat the storm. He told the oncoming pilot to call the two
flight nurses, who were not yet back onboard the helicopter, to
advise them that he was going to take off, and that they would be
picked up later by car.
The oncoming pilot subsequently tried
to call one of the flight nurses, but she had left her phone back
at the base. He then called the other nurse and told her the plan;
however, she stated that they had made it back to the helicopter,
and were 7 minutes “out” from the base.
The oncoming pilot subsequently raised
the door of the hangar, then went back to look at the weather radar
again, and saw that the thunderstorm line had “just barely
touched the southwest corner of county.” He then went
outside, and since he couldn’t see the helicopter, he called
the flight nurse again. When she answered, she asked about the
weather. The oncoming pilot saw the blinking light on a radio tower
to the east, about 6 miles away, “so visibility was
good,” and told the nurse that “she had the weather
beat.” The nurse then stated that they were 30 seconds
out.
At the time of the conversation, the
oncoming pilot observed that it was raining lightly, but that the
wind had picked up, perhaps to 20 knots. Then, just after hanging
up, there was an “immediate” loud clap of thunder and
lightning that made him jump. He subsequently looked out, but saw
no helicopter, and tried to call the nurse without success. He then
called MEDCOM, and ran up the hill to contact the ambulance service
located there. As he did so, it was raining harder than before, but
it was not a soaking rain.
The pilot held a commercial pilot
certificate, with airplane single engine land,
multi-rotorcraft-helicopter, and instrument airplane and helicopter
ratings. According to company records, the pilot was initially
hired by Hospital Wing on May 10, 2005. At the time, he indicated
about 2,200 hours of helicopter flight time, and since then, he
accrued about 415 additional hours.
The pilot’s latest Part 135
check ride was completed on August 26, 2009, and his latest
instrument competency check was completed on Feb 14, 2010. The
pilot’s initial and only night vision goggle (NVG) training
was completed on July 27, 2009, and his latest Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) second class certificate was issued on March
15, 2009. At the time, the pilot indicated 4,008 hours of total
flight time.
According to aircraft records,
American Eurocopter delivered the helicopter to Hospital Wing in
May 2009. At the time of delivery, the helicopter was equipped with
high skid landing gear, NVG-compatible lighting, a Vehicle Engine
Multifunction Display (VEMD), and an enhanced ground proximity
warning system (EGPWS).
Hospital Wing subsequently sent the
helicopter to Metro Aviation, Shreveport, Louisiana, for
aftermarket installations, including a medical interior. The
helicopter was configured with the pilot seat in the right front
position, the medical litter extending from the left front to the
left aft cabin bulkhead, and medical crew seat backs against the
aft cabin bulkhead.
Hospital Wing maintained the
helicopter in accordance with the Eurocopter Master Servicing
Recommendations. The aircraft logbook revealed that the most recent
200 hour, and annual inspections were accomplished on March 1, 2010
at 199.6 hours TTSN. At the time of the accident, there no
outstanding discrepancies listed in the maintenance records.
Weather, recorded at McKeller-Sipes
Regional Airport, Jackson, Tennessee, about 17 miles to the east of
the accident site, at 0553, included winds from 160 degrees true at
5 knots, visibility greater than 10 statute miles, a few clouds at
2,000 feet, a broken cloud layer at 2,700 feet, an overcast cloud
layer at 3,700 feet, and distant lightning to the southwest.
Radar images indicated that at the
approximate time of the accident, a mesoscale convective system was
moving through the area, southwest to northeast, at a groundspeed
of about 60 knots. The location of the most severe portion of the
convective system was coincident with the accident time and
location. There was also a “bow” shape in a line of
severe thunderstorms near the accident site, typically associated
with strong surface winds, heavy rainfall and extreme
wind-shear.
Infrared satellite imagery indicated
extensive cloud cover over far-western Tennessee during the time of
the accident, with cloud tops at 30,000 feet and greater.
Three witnesses near the accident site
stated that they saw lightning and heard thunder at the time of the
accident. One witness stated that it was very windy at the time,
and another stated that heavy rain bands were passing through the
area.