Mountain Life Flight returned to service on Feb 7th. Please visit the following link for more information:

- Lassen County Times

Houston, Texas – Today, American Eurocopter announced that Travis County STAR Flight has ordered another EC145 for its public safety air rescue program based in Austin, Texas. This will be the third EC145 in its fleet providing service and support for more than 19 counties in the central Texas area.

"STAR Flight is a premiere program in the United States that utilizes their helicopters for air medical, search and rescue, law enforcement and fire fighting missions," said Marc Paganini, American Eurocopter President and CEO. "They needed a truly multi -mission helicopter and the EC145 gives them the power, size and versatility to meet all of their mission needs."

The Life Flight base in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, is home to the newest aircraft in Geisinger’s fleet: a state-of-the-art EC-145. The helicopter will operate from the Williamsport Regional Airport and is designed to provide critically ill or injured patients access to advanced life support care and rapid transportation to critical care facilities. The new helicopter is equipped with enhanced technology features, including:

•GPS tracking capabilities
•Single pilot instrument rated aircraft with redundant independent dual autopilot systems
•Collision and terrain avoidance systems
•Increased lift off weight allowances
•Increased maximum flight range up to 370 miles
•Receipt of up-to-the-minute weather conditions in the *censormode*pit
•Active weather radar system mounted in the nose of the aircraft
•Night vision goggle certification with goggles coming later this year
“The aircraft went into service January 22 after completing final inspection,” said Jerry Splitt, RN, Program Coordinator for Life Flight, Geisinger Health System. “The opportunity to add this aircraft to our fleet is really rewarding because its capabilities support our number one priority – safety for our flight crew and patients.”

Life Flight Network, an air medical provider serving the Pacific Northwest and Intermountain West from nine locations in Idaho, Oregon and Washington, announced today they will be establishing a new base in Lewiston, Idaho. The critical care trained flight crew and their new high performance aircraft are expected to begin offering lifesaving service to the region no later than April 15, 2010.

On February 5, 2010, approximately 1920 mountain standard time, an Aerospatiale AS350 B2 helicopter, N157BC, was destroyed upon impact with terrain while maneuvering in the McGregor Military Range, 23 miles northeast of El Paso, Texas. A post-crash fire ensued. The commercial pilot and two paramedics received fatal injuries. Night visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan was filed for the Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 135 practice emergency medical services (EMS) flight. The helicopter was operated by Enchantment Aviation Inc D.B.A. Southwest Med Evac. Omniflight Helicopter Inc owned Enchantment Aviation. The flight departed the El Paso International Airport (KELP), El Paso, Texas approximately 1825.

The flight was conducted under an EMS contract with the United States Army and was attempting to pick up a soldier to simulate transporting injured Army personnel. The flight was to use night vision goggles (NVGs) and standard company practice would be for the pilot and paramedic seated in the left aft seat to be on NVGs.

Several Army personnel utilizing various night vision devices were in the vicinity of the accident. The Army personnel stated that the helicopter arrived to the south of the accident site and made two right turn orbits. The helicopter was seen turning on and panning the white spot light during these orbits. Personnel on the ground attempted to make radio contact with the helicopter but were not successful, so they began utilizing illumination to signal the helicopter. The helicopter was then observed to make a third orbit which was wider than the first two. During the third orbit, the helicopter banked approximately 45 degrees and entered a steep nose down attitude before impacting the ground.

The helicopter collided with relatively level terrain which contained low-lying desert vegetation and the surrounding area was free of towers, transmission wires, and man-made obstacles. The helicopter was found broken into several pieces, the largest of which were found in or near the 18-inch deep impact crater. All major components were accounted for at the accident site. The post-impact fire consumed a majority of the *censormode*pit instrumentation. The forward portion of the right skid toe was found fractured and embedded in hard soil with signatures consistent with an impact angle of 42 degrees nose low and 35 degrees of right bank. After initial documentation of the scene, several components were retained for further examination.

The commercial pilot had recently been hired by Enchantment Aviation Inc having previously flown helicopters for the United States Army and Maricopa County Sheriff's Office. In addition, the pilot held airline transport pilot certificate with Boeing 737, Boeing 757, Boeing 767, and Lockheed L-1011 type ratings. The pilot began training near the end of November 2009 and on December 22, 2009 the pilot completed the company's initial pilot-in-command training. On January 29, 2010, the pilot had completed the company's NVG training program.

At 1951, an automated weather reporting station at KELP, located 23 nautical miles southwest of the accident site reported winds calm, visibility 10 miles, skies clear, temperature 46 degrees Fahrenheit (F), dew point 28 F, and a barometric pressure of 30.13 inches of Mercury.

Trooper 2, a Maryland State Police MedEvac helicopter based at Andrews Air Force Base, was damaged during takeoff last night at Prince George's Hospital Center in Landover. Please visit the following link for more information:

- WBAL.com

IDENTIFICATION
Regis#: 157BC Make/Model: AS35 Description: AEROSPATIALE AS350
Date: 02/06/2010 Time: 0230

Event Type: Accident Highest Injury: Fatal Mid Air: N Missing: N
Damage: Destroyed

LOCATION
City: FORT BLISS State: TX Country: US

DESCRIPTION
N157BC, AEROSPATIALE AS350 ROTORCRAFT CRASHED UNDER UNKNOWN CIRCUMSTANCES,
THE THREE PERSONS ON BOARD WERE FATALLY INJURED, NEAR FORT BLISS, TX

INJURY DATA Total Fatal: 3
# Crew: 3 Fat: 3 Ser: 0 Min: 0 Unk:
# Pass: 0 Fat: 0 Ser: 0 Min: 0 Unk:
# Grnd: Fat: 0 Ser: 0 Min: 0 Unk:

WEATHER: ELP 060151Z VRB04KT 10SM FEW150 SCT250 13/01 A3005

OTHER DATA
Activity: Unknown Phase: Unknown Operation: OTHER


FAA FSDO: LUBBOCK, TX (SW13) Entry date: 02/12/2010

A Southwest Medevac helicopter based out of Las Cruces, NM crashed on Friday night at Fort Bliss during a training mission. Killed in the crash were the pilot, William Montgomery of Avondale, AZ., and two flight medics, John Sutter of Las Cruces and Anthony Archuleta of El Paso.

Please visit the following links for more information:
- El Paso Times
- NewsChannel 9
- KVIA.com
- El Paso Times