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Editor: James T. Crouse
Profession: Aviation Accident Attorney

Category: Helicopter Crashes

On Sunday, June 8, word comes from Texas of another late-night/early morning medical helicopter crash - taking the lives of all four people on board - the patient, the pilot, a paramedic who was one day away from her 29th birthday, and a flight nurse.

The helicopter, a Bell 407 operated by Louisiana-based PHI Air Medical, departed Huntsville Memorial Hospital and was en route to Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston when it crashed 10 miles from take off in the heavily wooded Sam Houston National Forest. The required 3:00 am contact from the helicopter was not received, initiating a search for the aircraft which was found by an on board global positioning system. The weather at the time of the crash was reported as clear and there were no distress signals from the chopper which was found to have been flying on the correct flight pattern and to have gone down in a straight line, hitting the tops of the tall pine trees and knocking them down.

The fact no calls of distress were made/heard and the crash took place shortly after take off, points to either a catastrophic mechanical or electrical failure or yet another controlled flight into terrain (CFIT). Regrettably, the latter, often caused by spatial disorientation at night or in poor weather, continues to plague the medical helicopter world. This crash in Huntsville on Sunday is one of four since December 30, 2007 that have killed 13 people and all have similar characteristics.

The NTSB states it will take up to 12 months before the results of this investigation is released. We will then know if there were any mechanical or electrical problems with the aircraft - which just hours earlier had saved a 2 year old from drowning. Unfortunately, unless there are some clear indications, the accident investigation will be forced to put the pieces back together, since the FAA still has not mandated Flight Data Recorders or Cockpit Voice Recorders on helicopters.