Warbird Information Exchange

Several reasons I bring this up -

1) It happened in Midlothian, TX and was on the local news
2) The most recent picture I found was taken by Zane (aka ZTex)
3) 2 people, pilot and mechanic, sadly lost their lives.

First, the helicopter - http://www.airport-data.com/aircraft/photo/457929.html

Then the story and why it is especially shocking -

http://www.myfoxdfw.com/dpp/news/2-kill ... pter-crash

The first picture up on that story tells it all and it's scary. The tail was severed from the aircraft (apparently by the main rotor) and the main rotor separated from the aircraft. There is question of when the main rotor separated, but it was clearly not on the aircraft at impact as it is well separated (by about 100 feet) and intact (very little impact deformation). My prayers and thoughts go out to the family of those lost in the accident. Weather at the time of the accident was hot, but otherwise "perfect".

As an ex-medical helo guy, I can tell you that any crash anywhere involving a medical helo reminds you right away how dangerous what you are doing really is.

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Manager

I used to take care of "Life Guard 1" for Flight for Life in Denver, an AS350. When I read this I got cold chills.

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"If its red or dusty - DON'T TOUCH IT!

The one that will always haunt me is the one that went down near Chicago. It hit a support wire of a communications tower and went in. No survivors. It was a Bell 222 carrying a little girl that was going to get a transplant. That was the first time I teared up at a crash that I didn't know anyone involved on. Working on the medial helos was the most rewarding thing I have ever done in my life, but on the same note, it could be the most heart breaking.

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Manager

The final report is going to be interesting from an engineering and materials standpoint. Preliminary info shows the mast to have fractures in two different locations with no indications yet as to why the tailboom seperated.

It's sad to have lost anyone from the services. I've worked with three different services over the years and always, they have been intensely focused on getting the patients taken care of in the best possible fashion with maximum safety.

I can honestly say that I started at the bottom of the business and worked my way up. I started as a parts driver and worked my way up to manager of flight operations. At each job along the way, on my first day I was told that what I did directly affected the life saving abilities of the crew and aircraft. I never walked through that hangar door without thinking that what I was doing was important. Even as a logistics driver on my first day, I was told, "We save lives here, there is not time for B.S." I am sure that every company that flies those missions has that mindset. My heart goes out to the families of the crew, and to those that have to deal with the loss and press on.

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Manager

CareFlite has one of (if not the) best maintenance and safety records in the industry and is a leader in many areas being among the first medivac services to use night vision, fully instrument rated helicopter pilots, and have all equipment fully certified for GPS approaches. In fact, CareFlite now has Helicopter RNAV approaches be developed and approved for use to all of the hospitals which they serve. This accident is only the second in their history, the previous one being a rollover due to a loss of power during departure from a hospital in 2003.