ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 138211
This information is added by users of ASN. Neither ASN nor the Flight Safety Foundation are responsible for the completeness or correctness of this information.
If you feel this information is incomplete or incorrect, you can submit corrected information.
| Date: | Friday 26 August 2011 |
| Time: | 18:41 |
| Type: |  Eurocopter AS 350B2 Ecureuil |
| Owner/operator: | LifeNet of the Heartland |
| Registration: | N352LN |
| MSN: | 3728 |
| Year of manufacture: | 2003 |
| Total airframe hrs: | 3655 hours |
| Engine model: | Turbomeca Arriel 1D1 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 4 / Occupants: 4 |
| Aircraft damage: | Substantial |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | near Mosby-Midwest National Air Center (KGPH), MO -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Ambulance |
| Departure airport: | Bethany, MO |
| Mosby, MO (GPH) | |
| Investigating agency: | NTSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
On August 26, 2011, about 1841 central daylight time, a Eurocopter AS350 B2 helicopter, N352LN, crashed following a loss of engine power as a result of fuel exhaustion near the Midwest National Air Center (GPH), Mosby, Missouri. The pilot, flight nurse, flight paramedic, and patient were killed, and the helicopter was substantially damaged by impact forces. The emergency medical services (EMS) helicopter was registered to Key Equipment Finance, Inc., and operated by Air Methods Corporation, doing business as LifeNet in the Heartland, as a 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 135 medical flight. Day visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident, and a company visual flight rules flight plan was filed. The helicopter was not equipped, and was not required to be equipped, with any onboard recording devices. The flight originated from Harrison County Community Hospital, Bethany, Missouri, about 1811 and was en route to GPH to refuel. After refueling, the pilot planned to proceed to Liberty Hospital, Liberty, Missouri, which was located about 7 nautical miles (nm) from GPH.
Probable Cause: The pilot's failure to confirm that the helicopter had adequate fuel on board to complete the mission before making the first departure, his improper decision to continue the mission and make a second departure after he became aware of a critically low fuel level, and his failure to successfully enter an autorotation when the engine lost power due to fuel exhaustion. Contributing to the accident were (1) the pilot's distracted attention due to personal texting during safety-critical ground and flight operations, (2) his degraded performance due to fatigue, (3) the operator's lack of a policy requiring that an operational control center specialist be notified of abnormal fuel situations, and (4) the lack of practice representative of an actual engine failure at cruise airspeed in the pilot's autorotation training in the accident make and model helicopter.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
NTSB
Location
Images:
photo: NTSB
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 27-Aug-2011 00:00 | gerard57 | Added |
| 27-Aug-2011 00:55 | RobertMB | Updated [Aircraft type, Registration, Cn, Operator, Other fatalities, Location, Nature, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 27-Aug-2011 14:32 | Geno | Updated [Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 09-Apr-2013 19:00 | harro | Updated [Time, Location, Source, Narrative] |
| 09-Apr-2013 19:04 | harro | Updated [Location] |
| 29-Mar-2015 12:51 | Aerossurance | Updated [Source] |
| 21-Dec-2016 19:26 | ASN Update Bot | Updated [Time, Damage, Category, Investigating agency] |
| 27-Nov-2017 17:06 | ASN Update Bot | Updated [Operator, Other fatalities, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 16-Feb-2020 13:45 | harro | Updated [Other fatalities, Narrative, Accident report, ] |
Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description
The Aviation Safety Network is an exclusive service provided by:
Quick Links:
| ASN Home | Send Correction / Feedback |
| FSF Home | Disclaimer | Copyright |
| Contact Us | Privacy Policy |
| Press / Media |
CONNECT WITH US:
©2024 Flight Safety Foundation