A Vanderbilt LifeFlight Airbus H130 crashed into a field, killing the flight nurse on board, after the pilot became incapacitated, forcing the flight paramedic to attempt to land the aircraft, the National Transportation Safety Board has disclosed in its preliminary investigation report.
The aircraft, operated by Air Methods, had been responding to a call Nov. 8 from Rutherford County, Tennesse, but was only three minutes into the flight from its Gallatin base when the request was cancelled.
In a post-accident interview, the flight paramedic said he recalled the pilot turning the aircraft around to return to base — but that the pilot then made no noticeable movements.
After he didn’t get confirmation from the pilot that they were turning around, the flight paramedic leaned forward and tapped the pilot on the shoulder.
“The pilot then looked at him and the flight paramedic said ‘Did you hear that? We are RTB,’ ” the report states. “He received no response from the pilot. He then asked the pilot if he was OK and saw that the pilot’s expression was a ‘complete blank stare.’ ”
The flight paramedic said he saw the pilot trying to make an input into the GPS or possibly the autopilot, but he couldn’t put his finger on the button. The pilot was also still not responding or making any purposeful movement of the flight controls.
The operator’s communications center received a radio call from the aircraft two minutes after the cancellation of the call, stating: “We have a medical emergency onboard with our pilot… We’re gonna… We will advise.”
No further transmissions were received from the flight.
Inside the aircraft, the flight paramedic had taken off his restraints, and said he realized he needed to slow the helicopter down.
He had never touched the cyclic in flight before, but he leaned over to pull it back. The pilot, whose hand was still on top of the cyclic, did not resist the movement.
The flight paramedic also understood, from watching pilots land, that he needed to decrease power, so he reached across the pilot’s lap and “tapped down” on the collective.
He pointed to a field to the pilot, who said to him, “there, no there…” and pointed to a field further away, and much more wide open.
“While the flight paramedic was leaning over the console trying to control the helicopter, it struck the tops of the trees while approaching the field,” the report states. “About 10-20 feet above the ground, the flight paramedic made a hard flare and the helicopter then impacted the ground.”
The flight nurse was killed, while the flight paramedic and pilot were seriously injured.
The aircraft rolled to its left side, but all major components remained intact with the wreckage. There was no post-impact fire.
The NTSB said its post-accident examination revealed no evidence of any mechanical malfunction or failure that would have stopped the aircraft’s normal operation at the time of impact.
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