deerock Posted September 8, 2011 Report Share Posted September 8, 2011 interesting reading here, for those who haven't seen it: http://www.rotorpad.com/general/ntsb-issues-preliminary-report-in-lifenet-crash.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rollthbns Posted September 8, 2011 Report Share Posted September 8, 2011 Thoughts and prayers to all involved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodrop Posted September 8, 2011 Report Share Posted September 8, 2011 sorry to hear this happened. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptainDune Posted September 8, 2011 Report Share Posted September 8, 2011 Terrible, hopefully no lawsuits will ensure because of the fuel issue with a patient on board. Especially if its just a pt transfer... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDHelicopterPilot Posted September 9, 2011 Report Share Posted September 9, 2011 (edited) Lawsuits have already been filed. This is a recap of the NTSB report. Pilot stated when departing base he had 2 hours of fuel. Pilot flew 28 minutes and landed at sending hospital. Then called his dispatch to state he had less fuel than he thought, only 45 minutes left on-board. Pilot decided to fly the Patient to refuel then go on to the receiving hospital which would have been about a 35 minute flight. This means he knew full well he was going to use 10 minutes of his 20 minute required fuel reserve. This is an FAA violation. While en-route to refuel, the helicopter ran out of fuel 31 minutes into the 35 minute flight. The ensuing auto-rotation ended bad. Points to ponder: 1: Either there was a fuel leak enroute or the helicopter departed base with only one hour of fuel on board. Did he not notice that departing with 2 hours of fuel then flying just 28 minutes and landing with 45 minutes of fuel was a red flag and warranted further investigation on his part? 2: Why did the pilot depart knowing he was going to use half of his required fuel reserve? 3: When the low fuel light came on, why did the pilot choose to continue? 4: What happened during the auto-rotation? Edited September 9, 2011 by JDHelicopterPilot 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptainDune Posted September 9, 2011 Report Share Posted September 9, 2011 Lawsuits have already been filed. This is a recap of the NTSB report. Pilot stated when departing base he had 2 hours of fuel. Pilot flew 28 minutes and landed at sending hospital. Then called his dispatch to state he had less fuel than he thought, only 45 minutes left on-board. Pilot decided to fly the Patient to refuel then go on to the receiving hospital which would have been about a 35 minute flight. This means he knew full well he was going to use 10 minutes of his 20 minute required fuel reserve. This is an FAA violation. While en-route to refuel, the helicopter ran out of fuel 31 minutes into the 35 minute flight. The ensuing auto-rotation ended bad. Points to ponder: 1: Either there was a fuel leak enroute or the helicopter departed base with only one hour of fuel on board. Did he not notice that departing with 2 hours of fuel then flying just 28 minutes and landing with 45 minutes of fuel was a red flag and warranted further investigation on his part? 2: Why did the pilot depart knowing he was going to use half of his required fuel reserve? 3: When the low fuel light came on, why did the pilot choose to continue? 4: What happened during the auto-rotation? I am obviously not familiar with the EMS world too much. Maybe you could elaborate on what you would have done (besides taking off with more fuel ). More out of curiosity than anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deerock Posted September 9, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 9, 2011 all very important questions. Hopefully answers for these will be found... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDHelicopterPilot Posted September 9, 2011 Report Share Posted September 9, 2011 (edited) Captain Dune, First off, something happened to 1 hours worth of fuel on the helicopter. Either it was never on board like the pilot said it was or it leaked out. Links in the accident chain: The first opportunity to avoid this accident was when he landed at the sending hospital. He noticed after flying just 28 minutes he used up 60 minutes worth of fuel. That right there would stop me in my tracks with a call to maintenance. The second link that could have been broken to avoid this accident was the pilot departing the sending facility knowing full well he was going to use 10 minutes of his 20 minute FAA required fuel reserve. This is a violation of the FARs and poor pre-flight planning. Third, the low fuel light (independent of the fuel gauge) would have come on. The pilot decided to continue the flight beyond the 18 minutes of flight time remaining when said light comes on. Fourth, the auto-rotation ended bad. No idea why this happened and we may never know. What I would have done? Assume pre-flight showed 2 hours of fuel on board, at the sending hospital I would have called maintenance to find out why after just 28 minutes I used an hours worth of fuel. Never accept a flight where your planning calls for the planned use of your reserve. Also, if the low fuel light comes on, LAND. This incident highlights many poor decisions and many opportunities to break the link in the chain of events leading to an accident. Included is poor flight planning. I am so vocal about this because even though this was an EMS flight, pilots can't get caught up in the "HERO" "Save a Life" mode and get complacent about Helicopter flying 101. Edited September 9, 2011 by JDHelicopterPilot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
500E Posted September 9, 2011 Report Share Posted September 9, 2011 Always keep eye on fuel gauge, you should know how much you use & rough movement of gauge per 1\2 hour, if movement does not correspond to time, start monitoring very closely, (Not found a real accurate gauge yet) 2nd question, we will never know 3rd question Get the job done, save a life scenario (the low fuel light is even worse than the gauges)PERSONALLY if the low light came on! I am on the ground, rather fly to the ground than auto anyday. 4th It can always go wrong Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptainDune Posted September 9, 2011 Report Share Posted September 9, 2011 JD, thanks for that insight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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