Second Air Ambulance Incident In A Week

Three people were killed Tuesday when a 1978 Beech B-90 King Air configured as a Yampa Valley Air Ambulance went down near Rawlins, WY. A fourth person on board the aircraft survived and is hospitalized in critical condition.

The aircraft (file photo of type, right), operated by Mountain Flight Service of Steamboat Springs, CO, was headed for Rawlins to pick up a patient when it went down at around 2140 local time. The ambulance crew on the ground, waiting to load the patient who'd been hurt in a car crash, reported the aircraft overdue at 2205.

Rescuers mounted up shortly after that, when the hospital received a cell phone call from the sole survivor of the accident, saying the aircraft had crashed. For more than 90-minutes, the injured EMT was able to stay on the phone in a three-way call with the hospital and the sheriff's office, before he ran out of cell phone power, according to The Craig Daily Press.

It was the second time in three days that a medical flight went down -- a fact not lost on authorities. After the crash of a Eurocopter EC-135 in Washington, DC, Monday night, NTSB Chairwoman Ellen Engelman Conners noted the recent spike in medical flight accidents.

FAA Preliminary Accident Report

IDENTIFICATION
 Regis#: 41WE    Make/Model: BE9L   Description: 90, A90 to E90 King Air (T-44,
 Date: 01/12/2005   Time: 0443

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

LOCATION
 City: RAWLINS           State: WY  Country: US

DESCRIPTION
 ACFT ON APPROACH TO RUNWAY, CRASHED, THERE WERE FOUR PERSONS ON BOARD ,
 THREE WERE FATALLY INJURED, ONE WAS SERIOUSLY INJURED, RAWLINS, WY

INJURY DATA   Total Fatal:  3
         # Crew:  4  Fat:  3   Ser:  1   Min:  0   Unk: 
         # Pass:  0   Fat:  0   Ser:  0   Min:  0   Unk: 
         # Grnd:       Fat:  0   Ser:  0   Min:  0   Unk: 

WEATHER: 0453Z AUTO 23004KT 3SM -SN BR FEW006 OVC017 00/00 A2934          

OTHER DATA
 Activity: Air Ambulance   Phase: Approach   Operation: General Aviation

 Departed: STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, C    Dep Date: 01/12/2005  Dep. Time: 0413
 Destination: RAWLINS, WY       Flt Plan: IFR     Wx Briefing: U
 Last Radio Cont: 0440
 Last Clearance: APPROACH CLEARANCE

 FAA FSDO: CASPER, WY (NM04)          Entry date: 01/12/2005

FMI: www.ntsb.gov