Claris Law Legal Blogging Community

Editor: James T. Crouse
Profession: Aviation Accident Attorney

Category: Helicopter Crashes

On June 30, 2008, two Bell 407 medical helicopters crashed after a mid- air collision near Flagstaff (Arizona) Medical Center, killing six passengers ( including both patients) and critically injuring a nurse - the largest death toll in the recent wave of med-ivac crashes. According to witnesses, the weather was clear and neither chopper appeared to be having mechanical problems - apparently both aircraft were trying to land at the same time. "Two helicopters trying to land at the same time is extremely rare" stated Matt Stein, a pilot with Classic Lifeguard Aeromedical Services in Page, Arizona a subsidiary of Classic Helicopters. Flagstaff Medical Center does not have flight controllers so it's up to the pilots to watch each other as they approach. Stein pointed out these deaths are the first ones in the 20 year history of the company. The Classic helicopter was carrying a patient with a medical emergency from the Grand Canyon. The second helicopter was operated by Air Methods from Englewood, Colorado. In addition to this tragedy, debris from the mid-air sparked a brush fire which burned 10 acres before it was contained.

Medical aircraft accidents are increasing at an alarming rate.

"We're very concerned about that," National Transportation Safety Board chairman Mark Rosenker told reporters. "We're going to work very, very hard to make sure we understand exactly what happened here ... and make recommendations to prevent it from happening again."

Hopefully these recommendations won't join the ranks of the NTSB's recommendations to the FAA for runway improvement to decrease collisions/incursions, improvements in cockpit audio & data recorders, improvements to reduce human fatigue in flight crews and air traffic controllers, improvements in flight crew training, and improvements to reduce icing of aircraft. All these have been on the NTSB's Most Wanted Transportation Safety Improvements and all have received the standing of "unacceptable response" by the NTSB.