Helicopter Pilot Avoids Crash

[BLSBoy]

Originally Posted by EMSLaw

I'm glad everything worked out.

But the headline is something like "Dog Bites Man." I mean... aren't helicopter pilots /supposed/ to avoid crashes.

Bad LZs, mechanical malfunction and overuse.

[EMSLaw]

Originally Posted by BLSBoy

Bad LZs, mechanical malfunction and overuse.

Ironic, considering you're from New Jersey. MONOC 1 just lost it's lease on a chopper because they weren't flying enough to make it profitable, and the State Police (NorthSTAR and SouthSTAR) are commonly called "CloudSTAR" because they won't fly when there's even a hint of bad weather.

So, I can agree with the first two, but I'm not sure about the third.

[usafmedic45]

the State Police (NorthSTAR and SouthSTAR) are commonly called "CloudSTAR" because they won't fly when there's even a hint of bad weather

Which is actually a good thing from a safety standpoint and something of a freakish rarity in the HEMS industry.

Bad LZs, mechanical malfunction and overuse

The first and last probably had something to do with it (mostly the former). I've not heard anything conclusive that says anything failed on the aircraft, other than the pilot to maintain a sufficient lookout for wires. Very few HEMS crashes result from mechanical failures. Most of it is poor decision making, insufficient avionics, corporate pressure, bad weather or some combination of one or more or all of the above.

aren't helicopter pilots /supposed/ to avoid crashes

Yeah, but judging by the safety record of HEMS, they don't do the best job of it. Even in this case, they technically did not avoid a crash. He flew into the wires. The fact that by some miracle (or skillful handling of the aircraft), no one died does not mean it wasn't a crash in the strictest sense of the word. If the NTSB or FAA get involved, it was a crash.

[BLSBoy]

I have noticed that a major contributing factor has been lack of NVGs as well.

[usafmedic45]

I have noticed that a major contributing factor has been lack of NVGs as well.

I was lumping that under "avionics" along with terrain avoidance and warning systems (TAWS), etc. That said, I think the push for NVGs has been a little overzealous as though it's a magical cure-all for what ails the HEMS industry and quite frankly it has a potential to make operations more dangerous if you put them in the hands of companies that are already not sufficiently risk averse to not use the NVGs as an excuse to further push the limits. It's one of those catch-22 scenarios in aviation: you find a technology that helps minimize a risk and some idiot (or group of idiots) decides to use it to allow them to get themselves into a zero sum game of chicken with the lives of themselves and their passengers.

Honestly I think if they are going to try to fly in marginal weather (instrument conditions) at night (which is more or less instrument flight rules unless you're over a very well lit area) they should be following the lead of the US military and commercial helicopter operations in almost every country but the US and have dual pilot operations as a standard practice. It won't happen unless the FAA's testicles suddenly drop enough to allow them to mandate it because the cost associated with it (in terms of payroll, retraining and, often, new helicopters able to handle the increased loads) would effectively drive out of business the fly-by-night (no pun intended) operations such as AirEvac Lifeteam (using them as an example due to their dubious distinction of having the worst safety record in HEMS) that use the cheapest helicopters possible and skate by praying that they don't lose more people rather than fixing the problems already identified in crash after crash.

Just my two cents as a pilot and as someone who does aviation safety research at his second (non-clinical) job....