ADW Controller Not Current And Qualified To Provide ASR Approach

Thursday's release by the National Transportation Safety Board of the preliminary crash report of a medevac flight on September 27 has drawn the ire of some lawmakers, promising to address the issue in Congressional hearings.

As ANN reported, the Aerospatiale AS365 medevac helicopter designated Trooper Two went down on the foggy night about two miles short of the runway at Andrews Air Force Base, impacting trees and terrain and fatally injuring four of the five persons on board, including pilot Stephen Bunker.

Detailing the circumstances of the flight, the NTSB report described the pilot's request for an Airport Surveillance Radar approach into Andrews, which was denied because the controller on duty was "not current and qualified to provide that service." The ASR approach was requested by Bunker after having problems receiving the glide slope while on the ILS approach to runway 19R, the NTSB report said.

US and foreign dignitaries routinely fly to and from of Washington DC via ADW. Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger said, "That surprises me as a member of Congress who comes in and out of Andrews when I go to Iraq, Afghanistan, whatever, that any helicopter, any plane in distress cannot be helped in a fog situation.

"I'm not going to make a comment one way or another because I don't know enough about the integral facts, but when there's a life on the line, we do certain things," Ruppersberger said.

Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley said, "It was my understanding that the air traffic controllers there, that none of them is able to vector the pilot in the manner in which he was requesting. Whatever contributed to this tragedy will be fully investigated."

In a published report, an FAA spokeswoman says it is not a requirement that controllers are trained to conduct the type of landing Bunker asked for, CBS reported, because controllers at a regional facility in Warrenton, Virginia can do so.

The flight, on the return leg to Prince George's County Hospital after picking up two persons injured in an automobile crash, diverted to AWD due to bad weather at the Hospital's helipad.

"The P.G. Hospital is completely fogged in. We're unable to land there. We're going to be returning to Andrews. I'll give you an E.T.A. in a second. We're going to have to have at least one or two ground units from P.G. County meet us there," Bunker radioed to dispatch personnel.

The question has also arisen as to whether the chopper (similar to type shown above) should even have been flying that night with weather in the area quickly deteriorating. The most recent weather report for ADW at the time of the crash showed ceiling 1,800 feet broken, visibility 10 statute miles, temperature 21 degrees C, and dew point 19 degrees C.

The NTSB continues to investigate, and an official and fully detailed report is expected.

FMI: www.ntsb.gov