NTSB Identification: DCA20WA108
Scheduled 14 CFR Non-U.S., Commercial
Accident occurred Friday, May 22, 2020 in Karachi, Pakistan
Aircraft: AIRBUS A320, registration:
Injuries: 97 Fatal, 2 Serious.
The foreign authority was the source of this information.
The government of Pakistan has notified the NTSB of an accident involving an AIRBUS A320 with CFM56 engines that occurred on May 22, 2020. The NTSB has appointed a U.S. Accredited Representative to assist the government of Pakistan's investigation under the provisions of ICAO Annex 13.
All investigative information will be released by the government of Pakistan.
ISLAMABAD — A Pakistani-led investigation into a deadly air crash Friday will examine whether the jet’s engines were damaged in an aborted first landing, causing a loss of power when the plane circled around for a second landing, officials familiar with the probe said.
Initial evidence suggests the engines of the Pakistan International Airlines jet made contact with the runway in Karachi when the pilot attempted to land without landing gear deployed, the officials said. Marks on the runway indicate the engines were dragged along it, while flight-altitude data and eyewitness accounts say that the plane took off again, they said.
The Airbus A320 never made it back to the runway, striking a residential building near the Karachi airport. The crash killed all but two of the 99 people on board and injured several on the ground.
Pakistan International Airlines, the national carrier, has struggled financially for years. It has seen three planes destroyed in crashes since 2006, including Friday’s accident.
Arshad Malik, chief executive of Pakistan International Airlines, a former air force officer, has declined to comment on the cause of the crash until he sees the findings of the full investigation, which are supposed to be delivered within three months.
The “black box” flight-data recorder was found Friday, but the voice recorder hasn’t been located. The investigation is expected to get technical assistance from Airbus, and the engine manufacturer CFM.
“This will be a totally free and fair inquiry,” Ghulam Sarwar Khan, the aviation minister, said Saturday. “There will be action against whoever is held responsible.”
The investigation team is composed of three air force personnel and one representative of the industry regulator.
Imran Narejo, of the Pakistan Airline Pilots Association, questioned the independence of the inquiry, criticizing the absence of a commercial pilot or international experts.
He described the information coming out as premature, and expressed concern the pilots’ perspective may not be given proper consideration.
“Dead people don’t talk,” said Mr. Narejo.
The investigation will examine the technical and mechanical performance of the aircraft—one of the world’s most widely flown models—and decisions made by the crew that appear to have contributed to the crash, according to the officials who are familiar with the investigation.
The investigation will also try to determine whether the pilots had been fasting, for as long as 10 hours before the crash in this case, as part of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan. Pakistan International Airlines prohibits pilots from fasting when they are scheduled to fly so that their performance isn’t impaired. Low blood-sugar levels can cloud judgment.
The one-and-a-half hour flight appeared to be uneventful until the aircraft approached Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport just before 2:30 p.m.
According to officials familiar with the investigation, the probe will examine why the pilot approached the airport at an unusually steep and rapid descent. In a publicly available tape of air-traffic control’s communication with the pilot—confirmed by the airline—the control officer raised concern several times about the plane’s trajectory.
The pilot responded that he was “comfortable.” When the plane reached 5 miles from the runway, it was at 4,000 feet, flight data shows. That is higher than a prudent altitude at that point, experts said.
J.F. Joseph, head of Joseph Aviation Consulting, which is based in Texas and advises on aviation matters, said it was puzzling why the pilot didn’t abort the first approach when he saw he was too high.
“What was the sense of urgency which pushed the pilot to brush aside all protocols?” Mr. Joseph said.
Instead, the pilot continued descending, apparently unaware that the plane’s landing gear wasn’t extended, perhaps distracted by dealing with the steep approach, according to the officials. The plane is equipped with alarms to warn pilots that the landing gear isn’t extended as it nears the ground, the officials said.
Investigators will also probe why the tracking of the plane wasn’t handed from air-traffic control, which was following its initial path on radar, to personnel in the control tower, who might have been able to see whether the plane’s landing gear was retracted, the officials said.
Marks on the runway indicate the plane made contact with the ground during the initial landing attempt, including one or both engines, according to the officials. The first contact appears to be half way down the runway, with the left engine, an official said, while the right engine seems to have touched further down.
An amateur photograph of the plane once it got airborne again, which is regarded as a credible image by officials, seems to show black marks along the underside of both engines.
If the pilot did come down on his engines, he could have cut the power and let the plane slide to a halt, experts said. Instead, he powered full throttle and got airborne again to make another attempt to land.
The plane was told by air-traffic control to climb to 3,000 feet, according to the audio recording, but couldn’t maintain that altitude.
At that point the pilot told the controller “we have lost engines.” Shortly afterward, a voice from the cockpit said, “Mayday, mayday, mayday.”
Video footage from a security camera mounted on a rooftop and available on aviation websites shows the aircraft nose up and tail down—apparently gliding powerless. The landing gear looks to be extended as it approaches the airport the second time in the video, officials said.
The plane was over a residential area built on the approach path to the runway, with apartment blocks and houses, some four floors high, packed together. The investigation will examine whether those homes were built legally, the officials said.
The plane’s tail hit a building, video shows. The aircraft then fell onto the roofs of homes, breaking apart and catching fire.
ISLAMABAD — Rescuers recovered 97 bodies Saturday from the wreckage of a crashed Pakistan International Airlines domestic flight, which the pilot had said lost power.
The plane crashed Friday as it reached the southern city of Karachi, slamming into a residential area on the edge of the airport. The flight was carrying 99 passengers and crew. Two passengers survived and weren’t badly hurt, an escape described as “miraculous” by authorities.
Many of the passengers had been on their way to see their loved ones for the Muslim festival of Eid, which falls this weekend, officials said.
On Saturday, the provincial government said it had found 97 bodies. Residents of 25 homes on the ground that were damaged by the crash were relocated, said the military, which is helping with the debris-clearance operations.
Among the dead was one American, according to the airline and the State Department.
The plane flew into the roofs of low-rise apartment blocks and homes of a middle-class neighborhood, breaking the aircraft up. Fires broke out on the ground. Rubble from the buildings and plane parts littered the narrow streets of the area. Authorities said no residents were killed, but some were injured.
“The pilot tried his best to get the plane to the runway,” Ghulam Sarwar Khan, the aviation minister, said Saturday, visiting the site of the crash. He said when the pilot realized he wasn’t going to make it, he steered the plane down amid the buildings in a way to do “minimum damage.”
Many of the bodies of people on board were burned beyond recognition, rescuers said. The provincial government said Saturday morning that 19 of the dead have been identified so far. It asked relatives to come forward to give DNA samples to identify more victims.
An investigation into the crash has been launched, with a four-member team named by the government to run the probe.
The pilot radioed in an emergency before the crash, the airline said.
“We have lost engines,” the pilot told air-traffic control just before the plane went down, according to a voice recording played on local television channels that was confirmed as authentic by the airline.
The control tower then asked the pilot to confirm that the plane would be making a belly landing—indicating that the aircraft had also been unable to deploy its wheels to land. The air-traffic controller told the pilot that a runway was available for the plane.
“Mayday, mayday, mayday,” came the response from the pilot.
The plane, an Airbus A320, had come from the eastern city of Lahore and was due to land at Jinnah International Airport in Karachi at around 3 p.m. local time on Friday.
Arshad Malik, the chief executive of Pakistan International Airlines, said Friday the plane was on its final approach to the airport and cleared by air-traffic control to land. But the pilot decided to circle around for another attempt.
It was on that second approach that the plane lost height before crashing into the buildings near the airport, video footage run by local channels showed.
While announcing an inquiry, Mr. Malik declined to speculate about the cause before the investigation’s findings are known. He said that planes are allowed to take off only after undergoing technical safety checks.
One of the men who survived, Mohammad Zubair, suffered burns to his hands and feet but was well enough to give media interviews from a hospital bed on Friday.
He told reporters that on the first landing approach there were some shudders to the plane and the aircraft flew back upward. After a number of minutes, the pilot again announced that he would land.
Mr. Zubair said in the interviews that he was never aware of a problem.
The next thing that Mr. Zubair remembered, he said in the interviews, was fire all around and people screaming. He saw daylight coming in from one spot in the fuselage, undid his seat belt and scrambled toward it, escaping the wreckage, he said.
Imran Narejo, of the Pakistan Airlines Pilots’ Association, cited what he said appeared to be a failure of the landing gear on the first approach and engine failure when the plane attempted to land a second time.
The other survivor, Zafar Masud, is president of a local bank, Bank of Punjab. Local television footage showed residents carrying Mr. Masud, who appeared to be conscious, away from the site. His family, after visiting him at the hospital, said he was talking and had a fractured elbow. Bank of Punjab said that he had “sustained injuries but is out of danger.”
A spokesman for Airbus SE said Friday that “we are aware of the reports about an accident involving a passenger aircraft in Pakistan. At this time we have no further details.”
The aircraft, an earlier generation of Airbus’s popular A320 narrow-body jet, was powered by engines manufactured by CFM International, a joint venture between General Electric Co. and France’s Safran SA, the plane maker said.
The aircraft first entered service in 2004. It has been in operation with Pakistan International Airlines since 2014, Airbus said.
Airbus said it was providing technical assistance to investigators in Pakistan and France under international air-accident investigation rules.
A spokesman for CFM said Friday it was aware of reports of the crash and is “closely monitoring the situation.”
The airline, which initially said 98 passengers and crew were on the flight but later corrected that to say there were 99 people, said Friday that it was in touch with both Airbus and the engine manufacturer.
Pi Kappa Phi’s “Glow Party”
A drone was supposed to take pictures of attendees at a fraternity party at the University of Southern California, but it ended up leaving a woman badly hurt and bleeding “vigorously” from her head on Oct. 3, 2015, court documents said.
Alina Pituch said she was at the “Glow Party” for Pi Kappa Phi's Delta Rho Chapter for no longer than 20 minutes that night when a “heavy object” fell on her head, causing her to stumble forward into a friend, according to a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles in 2016, City News Service reported.
The friend kept Pituch from falling, the complaint said. But the woman started bleeding from her wound, City News Service said. She says she suffered injuries to her forehead, left eye and the back of her head.
She was taken to the hospital, court documents said, the Daily Trojan reported. Pituch says the object that struck her was later identified to be a drone.
Her suit against the fraternity chapter and an event planning company, The Perfect Event, said Pituch suffers from permanent scarring on her head. The injuries have "compromised" her ability to focus on school work due to the headaches she began having after the incident, the Daily Trojan reported.
The event company had been hired to run the event and hire the operator of the drone that was taking pictures, the newspaper said.
The Federal Aviation Administration prohibits flying Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) directly over people, according to the agency’s website.
City News Service reports that the woman reached a settlement this month with the fraternity chapter and the Perfect Event. The terms weren’t disclosed.
This isn’t the first time a drone at a party led to injuries and lawsuits. Two guests at a New Hampshire wedding sued the groom in 2016, saying he brought in a drone that crashed into them. The women said they suffered permanent physical and emotional injury as a result of the crash, the Eagle-Tribune reported.
A drone injured two people, knocking one of them unconscious, at a Pride Parade in Seattle in 2015, the Seattle Times reported. The pilot was found guilty of reckless endangerment and got 30 days in jail.
Original article can be found here ➤ http://www.sacbee.com
By Thomas V. DiBacco
Guest Columnist
Thomas V. DiBacco, a 1959 Rollins College graduate, is professor emeritus at American University.
The recent engine explosion on a Southwest Airlines 737 flight forced to make an emergency landing in Philadelphia was a terrible disaster, killing one passenger, and bringing the Federal Aviation Authority, responsible for airline safety, into the public forefront. To be sure, the nation has had a near-decade long commercial airline safety record, but the preliminary finding of the FAA was that metal fatigue on one of the engine's fan blades may well have been responsible, as it was for a 2016 Southwest flight with a similar explosion that, fortunately, landed without incident.
I've been interested in metal fatigue for years because my late and older brother, Arch, was a mathematician with a specialty in that area. At one time he worked for an aeronautical firm. As an historian and airline passenger, I've been interested in metal fatigue because, in the early days of commercial flying, it was a major cause of accidents and deaths. For example, from 1934 to 1981, a total of 306 aircraft accidents attributable to metal fatigue occurred, resulting in 1,803 deaths.
No movie brought the issue of aircraft metal fatigue into the fear factor of travelers more than “No Highway in the Sky” (1951), at a time when most Americans had not purchased their first ticket for a commercial flight. Featuring top-ranked actors and derived from a novel by Nevil Shute, who was in real life a pioneer aircraft designer, the movie was part fiction in that Shute, who worked for Britain's de Havilland Company, which produced the first commercial jet airplane, was ahead of his time, but a little imprecise of the crisis curve, that is, of the first instances of metal fatigue causing jets to crash.
Here's the eerie time sequence between fiction and real life: Shute wrote his novel in 1948; the de Havilland firm put in service the first jet, called the Comet, in April 1951. Shute's movie was released on Sept. 21, 1951. No problems were found with the Comet airplane until May 1953, when three fatal crashes occurred, two attributable to metal fatigue. In time, after putting the Comet out of service, the de Havilland Company found the problem, but the responsible area of the plane was different from Shute's novel.
Here's the movie plot and metal-fatigue difference. Actor James Stewart, an American mathematician, works for a British company that produces what is dubbed a Reindeer aircraft, which experiences a crash that Stewart is charged to investigate. A quirky scientist who has already spent years on the unraveling of metal fatigue, Stewart finds himself on a Reindeer jet that, he calculates onboard the flight, has exceeded the number of hours that, mathematically, would bring the jet down. He exhibits all sorts of fright on the plane, confiding to a once-famous actress (Marlene Dietrich) as well as a flight attendant (Glynis Johns), both eventually becoming sympathetic to his reasoning. Although he can't get the pilot to abort the flight and is surprised when the jet lands safely, he goes into the cockpit and retracts the landing gear, so that the aircraft is damaged and can't fly again.
Of course, this not only puts Stewart in hot water with his firm but the law and finds himself in court defending his sanity. There's much more to the story: Stewart is a widower with a young daughter living in a London apartment filled with junk and neglect (he hasn't even cashed seven monthly payroll checks). And there's a bit of a romance (as the Brits would say) between Stewart and Johns.
But here's the bottom line: when the jet that he damaged is repaired, on its way to taxing onto the field, its tail falls off, just as Stewart had calculated. His misstep was that he didn't take into account how temperature changes (flying in tropical regions, for instance) affected his calculations.
As for the real story of the Comet's metal fatigue, the problem was not its tail, but the square design of the passenger windows, leading to cracks along the four edges, causing the windows to blow and the cabin to decompress. The problem was solved by making the windows smoothly in an oval shape — a design, fortunately, still honored to this day.
But it took years before the Comet's issues were resolved, and it wasn't until October 1958 when transatlantic jet flights were introduced by a major American carrier, Pan American. By then, the small-sized Comet was on its way to the history books. I took my first flight on Pan Am from London to New York in September 1958 on what was still dubbed a prop-jet, taking 13 and a half hours. By then, the Israeli airline, El Al, offered jet service, cutting four hours off the journey. Recalling the 1951 movie, I opted for Pan Am.
Original article ➤ http://www.orlandosentinel.com
The National Transportation Safety Board traveled to the scene of this accident.
Additional Participating Entities:
Federal Aviation Administration; Washington, District of Columbia
Turbomeca; Grand Prairie, Texas
Airbus; Grand Prairie, Texas
Honeywell; Phoenix, Arizona
Air Methods; Denver, Colorado
Federal Aviation Administration; Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Federal Aviation Administration; Fort Worth, Texas
Appareo Systems; Fargo, North Dakota
Bureau d’Enquêtes et d’Analyses; Paris, France
Federal Aviation Administration / Flight Standards District Office; Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Aviation Accident Factual Report - National Transportation Safety Board: https://app.ntsb.gov/pdf
Investigation Docket - National Transportation Safety Board: https://dms.ntsb.gov/pubdms
http://registry.faa.gov/N127LN
Location: Hazelhurst, WI
Accident Number:CEN18FA149
Date & Time: 04/26/2018, 2250 CDT
Registration: N127LN
Aircraft: EUROCOPTER AS 350 B2
Aircraft Damage: Destroyed
Defining Event: Loss of control in flight
Injuries: 3 Fatal
Flight Conducted Under: Part 91: General Aviation - Positioning
On April 26, 2018, about 2243 central daylight time, a Eurocopter AS350 B2 helicopter, N127LN, was destroyed when it was involved in an accident near Hazelhurst, Wisconsin. The commercial pilot and two emergency medical services crewmembers were fatally injured. The helicopter was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 repositioning flight.
According to the operator, Air Methods Corporation, the pilot and the medical crewmembers transported a patient from the Howard Young Medical Center Heliport (60WI), Woodruff, Wisconsin, to the Merrill Municipal Airport (RRL), Merrill, Wisconsin, departing about 1759 and arriving about 1819. The helicopter then departed from RRL about 1832 with another patient aboard and landed at the UW Hospital and Clinics Heliport (WS27), Madison, Wisconsin, about 1937. The patient was offloaded, and the helicopter departed WS27 about 2028 for refueling at Dane County Regional Airport (MSN), Madison, Wisconsin, arriving about 2037.
About 2104, the pilot radioed the operator to report that the helicopter was ready to depart MSN for 60WI. According to information from the helicopter's on-board Appareo Vision 1000 recorder (which records image, audio, and parametric data), the pilot conducted a preflight of the helicopter with the engine operating, and no anomalies were detected. Yawning and sighs were heard. The pilot requested clearance to 60WI and departed about 2107. About 1 minute later, the pilot asked if the medical crew was "alright back there," and one of the medical crewmembers responded "yup." One of the medical crewmembers then stated, "question is are you alright up there?" The pilot responded, "uhhh think so. Good enough to get us home at least."
About 2200, a medical crewmember stated, "I could go to sleep," and the pilot responded, "yeah that'd be nice huh." About 2205, the pilot made a radio call to Central Wisconsin Airport radio frequency. Recorded weather information was heard, and the pilot subsequently made a position announcement. After about 2215, the medical crewmembers started non-aviation-related conversations, and the pilot was last heard during the conversations about 2229. Between about 2215 and 2242, the pilot made movements including raising his left arm near his helmet (which was mounted with night vision goggles), flexing his legs, adjusting his seating position, and changing cyclic position.
About 2243, the helicopter was operating in level flight at an airspeed of 126 knots and an altitude of at 2,280 ft mean sea level (msl). The artificial horizon indicator then showed the initiation of a right bank. The pilot's right forearm started moving along with the cyclic to the right, and the artificial horizon indicated a bank between 10° and 15°. The roll rate to the right appeared to increase rapidly, and the pilot's body, right forearm, and right hand (which was holding the base of the cyclic grip) appeared to move along with the increased roll rate.
A medical crewmember stated "what are we doin'?" twice. The pilot's head moved to the right and could no longer be seen in the image, and the right bank increased to more than 90°. A medical crewmember stated, in a strained voice, "Ohhh [expletive]." The crewmember then shouted "what?" and the pilot's name. The other medical crewmember also shouted the pilot's name. The pilot's head returned to the image and moved to the left. His right hand still gripped the cyclic. The artificial horizon showed an inverted indication, and the torque gauge indicated a value beyond the red line. The emergency locator transmitter light illuminated while the pilot's head and upper body moved to the left. Sounds similar to a rotor high rpm horn and a grunt were recorded, along with a medical crewmember shouting the pilot's name. The recording contained no response from the pilot when the crewmembers shouted his name. The artificial horizon indicated a right roll of more than 270° with a pitch-down attitude, the altimeter indicated 1,900 ft msl, and the airspeed indicator showed 98 knots. The last two frames showed that the pilot's head and upper body had moved to the right and that the airspeed indicator displayed 70 knots, the artificial horizon indicated a 90° left bank with a pitch-down attitude, and the altimeter indicated 1,825 ft msl.
The company's satellite tracking of helicopter showed a normal route of flight until contact was lost at 2243. The helicopter wreckage was found about 0215 the next day.
Pilot Information
Certificate: Commercial
Age: 34, Male
Airplane Rating(s): Single-engine Land
Seat Occupied: Right
Other Aircraft Rating(s): None
Restraint Used:
Instrument Rating(s): Helicopter
Second Pilot Present:No
Instructor Rating(s): Helicopter; Instrument Helicopter
Toxicology Performed: Yes
Medical Certification: Class 2 Without Waivers/Limitations
Last FAA Medical Exam: 05/31/2017
Occupational Pilot: Yes
Last Flight Review or Equivalent:
Flight Time: (Estimated) 3200 hours (Total, all aircraft)
The accident flight was the pilot's first flight after a week-long family vacation in Florida. According to cellular telephone records and an interview with the pilot's wife, the pilot had a sleep opportunity of more than 9 hours during each of the 6 nights before the accident. On April 25, 2018, the pilot and his family traveled to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on an early morning airline flight, had lunch in Milwaukee, and then made the 4-hour drive home. The trip from Florida to Wisconsin involved a change in time zones. Cellular telephone records indicated the pilot's activity from 1655 to 2038 with two extended breaks in activity (greater than 60 minutes) from 1658 to 1801 and from 1802 to 2011. The pilot's wife thought that he went to sleep between about 2100 and 2130.
The time that the pilot awoke on the day of the accident was not known. Cellular telephone records indicated his activity from 0725 to 2057 with three extended breaks in activity (greater than 60 minutes) from 0923 to 1118, 1431 to 1556, and 1741 to 2040.The pilot's wife stated that, before going on duty, he would normally rest and sleep during the day, but she did not know if he rested or slept during the day of the accident. The pilot's wife reported no issues with the pilot falling asleep or staying asleep.
The pilot's wife, who was also a pilot at Air Methods, was on duty on the day of the accident and worked the day shift. She saw her husband when he arrived at work for the night shift and thought that he had arrived about 45 minutes early for his shift. They did the shift change together, and she noted nothing unusual about her husband.
Aircraft and Owner/Operator Information
Aircraft Make: EUROCOPTER
Registration: N127LN
Model/Series: AS 350 B2 NO SERIES
Aircraft Category: Helicopter
Year of Manufacture: 2006
Amateur Built:No
Airworthiness Certificate: Normal
Serial Number: 4149
Landing Gear Type: Skid
Seats: 4
Date/Type of Last Inspection: AAIP
Certified Max Gross Wt.:
Time Since Last Inspection:
Engines: 1 Turbo Shaft
Airframe Total Time:
Engine Manufacturer: Turbomeca
ELT: C126 installed, activated, aided in locating accident
Engine Model/Series: 1D1
Registered Owner: AIR METHODS CORP
Rated Power: 732 hp
Operator: AIR METHODS CORP
Operating Certificate(s) Held: On-demand Air Taxi (135)
Operator Does Business As:
Operator Designator Code: QMLA
The helicopter was configured for helicopter air ambulance services. The helicopter was equipped with a radar altimeter and a Honeywell MK XXI enhanced ground proximity warning system.
Meteorological Information and Flight Plan
Conditions at Accident Site: Visual Conditions
Condition of Light:Night
Observation Facility, Elevation: KARV, 1630 ft msl
Distance from Accident Site: 11 Nautical Miles
Observation Time: 2255 CDT
Direction from Accident Site: 352°
Lowest Cloud Condition: Clear
Visibility: 10 Miles
Lowest Ceiling: None
Visibility (RVR):
Wind Speed/Gusts: Calm /
Turbulence Type Forecast/Actual:
Wind Direction:
Turbulence Severity Forecast/Actual:
Altimeter Setting: 29.88 inches Hg
Temperature/Dew Point: 0°C / -1°C
Precipitation and Obscuration: No Obscuration; No Precipitation
Departure Point: MADISON, WI (MSN)
Type of Flight Plan Filed: Company VFR
Destination: WOODRUFF, WI (60WI)
Type of Clearance: None
Departure Time: 2104 CDT
Type of Airspace:
According to US Naval Observatory sun and moon data, the end of civil twilight in the Rhinelander, Wisconsin, area, 17 nm southwest of the accident site, on the day of the accident was 2031, and moonset was at 0507 the next day. The phase of the moon on the day of the accident was a waxing gibbous with 88% of the moon's visible disk illuminated.
Wreckage and Impact Information
Crew Injuries: 3 Fatal
Aircraft Damage: Destroyed
Passenger Injuries: N/A
Aircraft Fire: None
Ground Injuries: N/A
Aircraft Explosion: None
Total Injuries: 3 Fatal
Latitude, Longitude: 45.754444, -89.695833
The helicopter was found in a wooded area about 178° and 8.4 nautical miles from 60WI. The wreckage exhibited no signs of fire. A 70-ft-tall tree that was located about 66° and 47 ft from the nose of the wreckage had broken branches. Other trees between that tree and the wreckage had trunks and branches that were broken and linearly separated. A ground impression that was about 11 ft long, 9 ft wide, and 2 ft deep was found in front of the helicopter wreckage. The helicopter came to rest on its right side. The heading of the wreckage from the tail to the nose was about 095°. The smell of fuel was present at the site and in the ground below the helicopter. All major components of the helicopter were located at the site. The cockpit and cabin area was destroyed. The fuselage exhibited rearward crushing deformation.
The tailboom was attached to the fuselage. The tail rotor gear box and tail rotor blades remained on the tail. The vertical fin had partially detached from the end of the tailboom. Both horizontal stabilizers were present on the tail. All three rotor blades remained attached to the rotor hub, which was attached to the transmission. The main rotor blades exhibited damage that includes spar fractures and leading edge abrasions and depressions. The main rotor hub rotated when the transmission input drive shaft was manually rotated. The fuel tank was fragmented. Yaw, pitch, lateral, and collective controls were traced from the cockpit to their respective servo actuators. Engine controls were traced from the cockpit through their respective bellcranks to their engine components. A magnetic plug in the hydraulic system had some particulate on its magnetic end. The filter bypass button on the hydraulic control block was popped.
The hydraulic pump exhibited a suction and pressure at the pump's inlet and outlet. Disassembly of the hydraulic pump revealed scoring witness marks on the pump housing in its gear's plane of rotation, and no debris or obstructions were observed within the pump ports. Computed tomography images of the three main rotor actuators, showed some internal anomalies with the pitch actuator, including the presence of an unknown material next to the extend side end cap of the actuator and material consistent with the piston head seal in the extend side cavity of the actuator. The images shows no indications of internal anomalies in the left lateral and right lateral main rotor actuators, and tail rotor yaw actuators. The hydraulic pump and four actuators were subsequently examined by their manufacturers Visual examination of the components of the pump showed no abnormal indications, obvious wear, or defects, and the seals were in good condition. The pump was reassembled and tested, and the pump met the specifications for a new pump. Examination of the three main rotor actuators and the tail rotor actuator revealed that the damage they sustained was consistent with impact damage. No preimpact damage was found.
The engine was found on the ground separated from the fuselage. The engine compressor blades exhibited nick and gouge damage consistent with foreign object ingestion. The power turbine blades exhibited silver-colored deposits. The power turbine was manually turned, but the drive train did not turn. Subsequent examination revealed that the engine's module 5 reduction gearbox had migrated rearward out of its installed position with its O-ring groove visible. The module 5 gearbox was removed for inspection of the input pinion torque alignment marks. The marks were found to be misaligned about 0.08 inch in the tightening direction, which is consistent with engine power being delivered to the drive train during the accident sequence.
The Appareo unit was found near the cockpit area. The download of the data found no light or audio warnings that would indicate a mechanical malfunction. Additionally, there was no recorded evidence of a bird strike.
Medical And Pathological Information
The University of Wisconsin Anatomic Pathology Laboratory performed an autopsy of the pilot. His cause of death was multiple traumatic injuries. Toxicology testing performed at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Forensic Sciences Laboratory was negative for ethanol and tested-for substances.
Tests And Research
Video Camera Analysis
At the request of the NTSB, the Bureau d'Enquêtes et d'Analyses pour la Sécurité de l'Aviation Civile analyzed video from two cameras (located in parking lots near the accident site) that recorded the sounds of the helicopter during flight and the accident sequence. The spectral analysis showed that the acoustic signature of both the main and the tail rotors seemed to be nominal until the end of the recording. Engine condition and speed could not be determined.
A sudden decrease of the frequencies was detected 7.5 seconds before the end of the flight. The decrease was most likely due to a heading change and was followed by a slight reduction of the rotor speed. About 3.5 seconds before impact, the helicopter's rotor speed sharply increased, reaching in 2.5 seconds the average value of 125% rotor system speed.
Performance Study
A performance study for this accident was conducted using the recorded Appareo data. The study showed that, during the accident flight, the helicopter averaged groundspeeds between 90 and 115 knots and flew at altitudes between 800 and 1,100 ft above ground level. By 2240, the helicopter was about 1,300 ft above ground level, but the increase in altitude coincided with an increase in terrain elevation. At 2243:12, the helicopter's pitch and roll attitude began to increase; by 2243:21, the helicopter was fully inverted. During the last 6 seconds of recorded data (2243:18 to 2243:24), the helicopter began to rapidly lose altitude at a rate of about 5,000 ft per minute.
The accident flight was operated 200 to 600 ft lower and 20 to 40 knots slower than the three previously recorded flights, which were flown by the accident pilot.
Additional Information
The operator's general operations manual defined a scheduled duty period as "12 scheduled consecutive hours that may be extended to 14 hours" and a rest period as "10 scheduled hours of rest that are consecutive, known in advance and free from all restraint." The manual further stated the following:
Pilots and certificate managers are responsible for ensuring compliance with the flight time limitations and rest requirements. Pilots will report for duty with the appropriate rest and be capable of performing their assigned flight crewmember duties. At any time a flight crewmember becomes medically or physically unfit for duty they shall vocally notify the appropriate aviation manager, [and] self-ground .
The operator disseminated periodic publications on various topics that included fatigue risk management. For example, the winter 2017 edition of the operator's "Safety Connect" publication included a special in-depth feature titled "Drained: Examining the Causes & Remedies of Fatigue." The publication discussed factors that increase fatigue, such as dim lighting, limited visual acuity, high temperatures, high noise, high comfort, tasks over long periods of time, and long, repetitive, monotonous tasks. The feature also included information from the FAA's Advisory Circular 120-115, "Maintainer Fatigue Risk Management."
Location: Hazelhurst, WI
Accident Number: CEN18FA149
Date & Time: 04/26/2018, 2250 CDT
Registration: N127LN
Aircraft: EUROCOPTER AS 350 B2
Injuries: 3 Fatal
Flight Conducted Under: Part 91: General Aviation - Positioning
On April 26, 2018, about 2250 central daylight time, a Eurocopter AS 350 B2 helicopter, N127LN, impacted trees and terrain during cruise flight near Hazelhurst, Wisconsin. The pilot and two crewmembers were fatally injured. The helicopter was destroyed during the impact. The helicopter was registered to and operated by Air Methods Corporation as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 repositioning flight. Night visual meteorological conditions were reported in the area about the time of the accident, and the flight was operating on a company visual flight rules flight plan. The flight originated from the Dane County Regional Airport-Truax Field (MSN), near Madison, Wisconsin, about 2104 and was destined for the Howard Young Medical Center Heliport (60WI), near Woodruff, Wisconsin.
Earlier in the day the emergency medical services (EMS) crew had transported a patient to the Madison area. The purpose of this flight was to reposition the helicopter back to 60WI. The helicopter was serviced with 80 gallons of fuel at MSN. According to initial information, the pilot radioed that he departed from MSN. The helicopter did not arrive at its destination at its estimated arrival time, and the operator started their search procedures for the helicopter. The Air Force Rescue Coordination Center placed a call to the operator and advised that an emergency locator transmitter signal associated with the helicopter was received by the center. The center informed the operator of a latitude and longitude in which to look for the helicopter. The helicopter was subsequently found near that location about 0215 on April 27, 2018.
The 34-year-old pilot held a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) commercial pilot certificate with rotorcraft-helicopter and instrument helicopter ratings. He also held a private pilot certificate with an airplane single engine land rating. He held an FAA second class medical certificate issued on May 31, 2017. On his last application for the medical certificate the pilot reported having accumulated 3,200 hours of total flight time, with 100 hours logged with the preceding six months. According to initial information from the operator, the pilot received training on January 5 and 7, 2018 and satisfactorily passed a check ride.
N127LN was a 2006 model Eurocopter (Airbus) AS 350 B2, four-place, single-engine helicopter, with serial number 4149. The helicopter was configured for EMS transport services. It was powered by a Turbomeca Arriel 1D1 turboshaft engine, with serial number 19129. The engine had a maximum takeoff power rating of 732 shaft horsepower and a continuous power rating of 625 horsepower. According to initial information, the helicopter was maintained under a company aircraft inspection program and had undergone 100 and 600-hour inspections on April 25, 2018, at an airframe total time of 5,152.8 hours. The helicopter was not equipped with a vehicle engine multifunction display or a digital electronic control unit. However, it was equipped with an enhanced ground proximity warning system (EGPWS).
At 2255, the recorded weather at the Lakeland Airport/Noble F. Lee Memorial Field, near Minocqua, Wisconsin, was: Wind calm; visibility 10 statute miles; sky condition clear; temperature 0° C; dew point -1° C; altimeter 29.88 inches of mercury.
At 2253, the recorded weather at the Rhinelander-Oneida County Airport, near Rhinelander, Wisconsin, was: Wind calm; visibility 10 statute miles; sky condition clear; temperature 2° C; dew point 1° C; altimeter 29.87 inches of mercury.
At 2253, the recorded weather at the Eagle River Union Airport, near Eagle River, Wisconsin, was: Wind calm; visibility 10 statute miles; sky condition clear; temperature 0° C; dew point 0° C; altimeter 29.86 inches of mercury.
According to U.S. Naval Observatory Sun and Moon Data, the end of local civil twilight in the Rhinelander, Wisconsin, area was 2031 and local moonset was at 0507 on April 27, 2018. The observatory characterized the phase of the moon as "waxing gibbous with 88% of the Moon's visible disk illuminated."
The helicopter was found in a wooded area about 178° and 8.4 nautical miles from 60WI. First responders indicated that the sky was clear, the moon was visible, and there was a smell of fuel at the time the helicopter was located. However, the wreckage did not exhibit any signs of fire. A tree about 70 ft tall about 66° and 47 feet from the nose of the wreckage had branches broken in its upper canopy. Trees in between this tree and the wreckage had their trunks and branches broken and linearly separated. The path of the broken and separated trunks and branches through the trees was steep. A ground impression about 11 ft by 9 ft and 2 ft deep was found in front of the helicopter wreckage. The helicopter came to rest on its right side. The heading of the wreckage from tail to nose was about 095°. During the on-scene examination, the smell of fuel was present at the site and in the ground below the helicopter. All major components of the helicopter were located at the site. The cockpit and cabin area was destroyed. The fuselage exhibited rearward crushing deformation. The tailboom was attached to the fuselage. The tail rotor gear box and tail rotor blades remained on the tail. However, the vertical fin had partially detached from the end of the tailboom. Both horizontal stabilizers were present on the tail. All three rotor blades remained attached to the rotor hub, and the rotor hub was attached to the transmission. The main rotor blades exhibited damage to include spar fractures and leading-edge abrasions and depressions. The main rotor hub rotated when the transmission's input drive shaft was rotated by hand. The fuel tank was fragmented. Yaw, pitch, lateral, and collective controls were traced from the cockpit to their respective servo actuators. Engine controls were traced from the cockpit through their respective bellcranks to their engine components. A magnetic plug in the hydraulic system had some particulate on its magnetic end. The filter bypass button on the hydraulic control block was popped. The hydraulic pump was turned by a drill and the pump exhibited a suction and pressure at the pump's inlet and outlet. Disassembly of the hydraulic pump revealed scoring witness marks on the pump housing in its gear's plane of rotation and no debris or obstructions were observed within the pump ports.
The engine was found on the ground and was separated from the fuselage. The engine's compressor blades exhibited nick and gouge damage consistent with foreign object ingestion. The power turbine blades exhibited silver colored deposits on them. The power turbine was turned by hand and the drive train did not turn. Subsequent examination revealed that the engine's Module 5 reduction gearbox had migrated out of its installed position, rearward, to the extent its O-ring groove was visible. The Module 5 gearbox was removed for inspection of the input pinion torque alignment marks. The marks were found to be misaligned approximately 2 millimeters in the tightening direction which is consistent with engine power being delivered to the drive train during the main rotor blade impact sequence.
The Oneida County Coroner was asked to perform an autopsy on the pilot and to take toxicological samples.
The helicopter was equipped with an Appareo Vision 1000 recorder unit, which records to both a removable secure data (SD) card and internal memory. Both the unit and the SD card sustained impact damage. The unit and its SD card were shipped to the National Transportation Safety Board Recorder Laboratory to see if they contain data in reference to the accident flight. A hydraulic fluid sample and a fuel sample were retained for testing. Additionally, the hydraulic magnetic plug, the hydraulic pump, hydraulic filter, four actuators, and the EGPWS were retained for further examination.
Aircraft and Owner/Operator Information
Aircraft Manufacturer: EUROCOPTER
Registration: N127LN
Model/Series: AS 350 B2 NO SERIES
Aircraft Category: Helicopter
Amateur Built: No
Operator: AIR METHODS CORP
Operating Certificate(s) Held: On-demand Air Taxi (135)
Operator Does Business As:
Operator Designator Code: QMLA
Meteorological Information and Flight Plan
Conditions at Accident Site: Visual Conditions
Condition of Light: Night
Observation Facility, Elevation: KARV, 1630 ft msl
Observation Time: 2255 CDT
Distance from Accident Site: 11 Nautical Miles
Temperature/Dew Point: 0°C / -1°C
Lowest Cloud Condition: Clear
Wind Speed/Gusts, Direction: Calm
Lowest Ceiling: None
Visibility: 10 Miles
Altimeter Setting: 29.88 inches Hg
Type of Flight Plan Filed: Company VFR
Departure Point: MADISON, WI (MSN)
Destination: WOODRUFF, WI (60WI)
Wreckage and Impact Information
Crew Injuries: 3 Fatal
Aircraft Damage: Destroyed
Passenger Injuries: N/A
Aircraft Fire: None
Ground Injuries: N/A
Aircraft Explosion: None
Total Injuries: 3 Fatal
Latitude, Longitude: 45.754444, -89.695833
The air ambulance helicopter crash Thursday night in Hazelhurst has affected staff and families of Ascension and Air Methods across the region and the country.
In a joint follow up statement, representatives from the two organizations said the “outpouring of support from our Ascension and Air Methods families, first responders and the community has been significant and greatly appreciated.”
Ascension public relations manager Tom Weaver released photos and names of the three crew members who perished in the accident. Deceased are Rico Caruso, 34, of Hazelhurst- Air Methods pilot; Greg Rosenthal, 43, of Mosinee- flight paramedic and Klint Mitchell, 30, of Watersmeet, Mich. – flight nurse.
Also in the follow up statement released Saturday, Weaver announced the Howard Young Foundation will be using its ‘Helping Hands’ fund for any donations to benefit the families of the Spirit team affected by this tragedy. All donations collected will go to the affected families. To donate, people are asked to visit the foundation’s website at www.howardyoungfoundation.org or call 715-439-4005. Donations can also be mailed to Howard Young Foundation, PO Box 470, Woodruff, WI 54568. Checks may be made payable to Howard Young Foundation – Spirit.
A remembrance banner has been placed near the recently constructed entrance to the Howard Young Medical Center campus along Highway 51. Similar areas are being planned for other facilities in the area.
Oneida County dispatchers were alerted to a missing air ambulance approximately 11:22 p.m. April 26. The last known contact with the helicopter was at approximately 10:55 p.m. Emergency responders searched the last known area of the aircraft. At approximately 2:00 a.m., emergency responders located the helicopter in the town of Hazelhurst. Three occupants, including the pilot were on board the aircraft; all three occupants were found deceased.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) are continuing the investigation.
Air Methods and Ascension previously announced that both ground and air medical transport would be suspended until further notice. However, Ascension Wisconsin Spirit Medical Transportation has been able to resume operation of its ground units for interfacility transport. The Ascension Wisconsin Spirit Air Medical services remain grounded.
Ascension Wisconsin has released photos of the three victims in Thursday night's air ambulance helicopter. From left, Rico Caruso, Air Methods pilot; Greg Rosenthal, flight paramedic and Klint Mitchell, flight nurse.
HAZELHURST - Saturday afternoon, the Oneida County Sheriff's Office identified the victims killed in a medical helicopter crash.
Gregory Rosenthal of Mosinee, 43, Rico Caruso of Hazelhurst, 34, and Klint Mitchell of Watersmeet, MI, 30, all died when their Ascension SPIRIT Air helicopter crashed into the woods in Hazelhurst late Thursday night. The Oneida County Medical Examiner told Newswatch 12 all three died on impact.
The NTSB reported Friday that the victims included a pilot and two medical staff members, however the agency did not identify the victims at that time. Ascension spokesman Tom Weaver confirmed to Newswatch 12 Saturday that Caruso was the helicopter's pilot. There was no patient on board at the time of the crash.
The Eurocopter AS350 was returning to its base at Howard Young Medical Center in Woodruff after dropping a patient off in Madison. The last known contact with the helicopter came at 10:55 p.m. on Thursday. Oneida County Emergency Dispatch received a call alerting police to the missing helicopter around 11:20 p.m.
Emergency responders searched the area and found the wreckage in the woods past South Blue Lake Road around 2:00 a.m. Friday.
The NTSB and FAA took control of the investigation Friday. A preliminary report could come out in the next week, but a full report -- including what caused the crash -- could take about a year.
The Howard Young Foundation set up a fund for Rosenthal, Caruso, and Mitchell's families. You can donate by following the steps through this link.
http://www.wjfw.com
Joint Statement from Air Methods and Ascension Wisconsin
We are deeply saddened and mourning the loss of three teammates who were aboard the air medical helicopter that went down in Hazelhurst, Wisconsin last night.
Our heartfelt sympathies and condolences go out to the families and friends of the crew onboard. We will not release any names at this time to respect the privacy of their families.
The accident is currently under investigation by the NTSB and FAA and we will support their work in every way possible.
In addition, we have made the decision to suspend operations of our air and ground medical transport units until we determine when it is appropriate to resume operations. We are working with our EMS partners and medical transportation colleagues in the region to meet the needs of patient transport.
We would like to thank the dedicated Emergency Response professionals in our community who have been responding to this incident.
There is no further information available at this time.
ONEIDA COUNTY, Wis. (WAOW) - Three people are dead after a helicopter crash in Oneida County, according to the Oneida County Medical Examiner.
The medical helicopter, which is based in Woodruff, dropped off a patient in Madison Thursday and was heading back to the Northwoods, according to a spokesman with the National Transportation Safety Board. The helicopter crashed 12 miles south of its destination, a FAA spokesperson told News 9.
The Oneida County Sheriff's Department said the helicopter was found in Hazelhurst. The three were all flight crew members, according to the medical examiner. No patients were on board.
No identities are being released at this time, pending notification to family members. The three are believed to have died on impact, according to the medical examiner.
The body of the pilot is being sent for an autopsy, which is standard protocol, according to the medical examiner.
The FAA will send a team to the site and the National Transportation Safety Board will lead the investigation.
The helicopter went missing Thursday night, according to the sheriff's office. According to the press release, the Oneida Dispatch Center received the call at about 11:22 p.m.
Ascension Wisconsin released the following statement Friday afternoon:
"We are deeply saddened and mourning the loss of three teammates who were aboard the air medical helicopter that went down in Hazelhurst, Wisconsin on April 26.
Our heartfelt sympathies and condolences go out to the families and friends of the crew onboard. We will not release any names at this time to respect the privacy of their families."
Ascension said ground and air medical transport has been suspended until further notice.
The Associated Press reports at least eight agencies were involved in the search.
Several local fire department are extending condolences on Facebook.
Story and video ➤ http://www.waow.com
