Two Medical Helos Down In A Month

The story may sound familiar, except the outcome was much better this time around. None of the four people aboard an Airlift Northwest Agusta A109 was seriously injured when the medical chopper lost power on takeoff Friday night and fell off the Providence-St. Peter Hospital's roof helipad.

Friday's accident was the second for the company in a month. As was reported in Aero-News, another Airlift Northwest helicopter went down in Puget Sound September 29, killing the three crewmembers onboard.

FAA spokeswoman Debbie Taylor told the Associated Press the NTSB took over the investigation Saturday.

"On takeoff, the helicopter lost power and more or less fell off the building" about 30 feet, said Airlift Northwest's Michael Copass. The A109 (file photo of type, above) was a new model, he added. The helicopter involved in the September accident was 18 to 20 years old.

One of the three crew members from Friday's accident was hospitalized overnight, according to media reports. Officials at the hospital said a patient onboard the helicopter who was being transported to Seattle's Harborview Medical Center was not injured.

IDENTIFICATION
  Regis#: 950AL        Make/Model: A109      Description: AGUSTA A109E
  Date: 10/29/2005     Time: 0624

  Event Type: Accident   Highest Injury: Minor     Mid Air: N    Missing: N
  Damage: Substantial

LOCATION
  City: OLYMPIA   State: WA   Country: US

DESCRIPTION
  PILOT, AFTER CLEARING HELIPAD, RECEIVED A LOW ROTOR AUDIO WARNING.  THE
  HELO BEGAN TO SETTLE RAPIDLY, SO PILOT ATTEMPTED TO MANEUVER INTO A DIRT
  AREA, BUT HIT THE SIDE OF A BUILDING CAUSING ACFT TO ROLL ONTO ITS RIGHT
  SIDE, SPINNING 180 DEGREES.  OLYMPIA, WA

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

WEATHER: METAR OLM 290554Z AUTO 22004KT 10SM -RA SCT037 BKN 047 OVC060 09/08 A3002

OTHER DATA
  Activity: Business      Phase: Take-off      Operation: Air Taxi (On Demand)

  Departed: ST PETERS HOSPT, WA         Dep Date: 10/29/2005   Dep. Time: 0620
  Destination: HARBORVIEW MED CENTE     Flt Plan: UNK          Wx Briefing: N
  Last Radio Cont: UNKN
  Last Clearance: UNKN

  FAA FSDO: SEATTLE, WA  (NM01)                   Entry date: 10/31/2005

FMI: www.faa.gov/data_statistics/accident_incident/preliminary_data