Report: GPS might have prevented fatal chopper crash
A global positioning device used in the medical helicopter that crashed in Aurora killing four people was not equipped with a system that could detect terrain and warn of obstacles.
That information was part of a National Transportation Safety Board report released Thursday detailing the facts of the investigation into the Oct. 15 crash of the Air Angels helicopter that was en route from Sandwich to Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago. Company officials told investigators the device was the pilot's primary source of navigation information.
"(The device) could display terrain and obstacles," according to the report, "(but) the software for that function was not installed, and had never been installed."
The report does not specify a cause for the crash. It was released along with eight other reports on recent medical helicopter crashes in anticipation of a federal hearing next month about the safety of the medical helicopter industry.
Senior NTSB Air Safety Investigator John Brannen is heading the probe into the Air Angels crash. He said a probable cause report could come in as early as two months, but probably not before the planned four-day public hearing on the industry in February in Washington, D.C.
"The release of all these different reports is related to that hearing on EMS helicopter accidents," Brannen said.
There were seven fatal medical helicopter crashes last year that claimed 28 lives, up from two fatal crashes in 2007 that killed seven people. The federal board has recommended medical helicopter companies install terrain warning systems in the aircrafts, but did not mandate it.
The report Brannen compiled on the Air Angels crash outlines how the helicopter piloted by 69-year-old Indiana resident Del Waugh was just below the peak of a 734-foot tall radio tower when it clipped the tower before the crash. Investigators uncovered two different videos showing strobe lights on the tower operating at the time of the crash, according to the report. The tower also appears on several regional aeronautical charts, according to Brannen's report.
Air Angels officials told Brannen it was company policy to fly 1,500 feet to 1,700 feet above sea level. The tower tops out at 1,449 feet above sea level, according to the report.
Also killed in the crash were flight nurse William Mann, 31, of Chicago; paramedic Ron Battiato, 41, of Peotone; and their 1-year-old patient, Kirstin Blockinger of Leland.
Kirstin's family has sued Air Angels and Waugh's estate over the young girl's death. They are seeking unspecified damages in their lawsuit.
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