VFR Conditions Prevailed, But Emergency Landing Goes Wrong

An early Sunday aircraft accident has taken the lives of five people as an Air Ambulance flight went wrong. The flight departed at 0015 local time and occurred shortly after departure from Alpine-Casparis Municipal Airport. The aircraft was enroute to Midland, TX. The aircraft impacted in an open field about a mile east of the airport, some 200 SE of El Paso, while 'attempting to make an emergency landing' according to the TX Dept. of Public safety.

DPS reports that the stricken aircraft impacted a rut in the muddy field, where it overturned and burned. The accident was deemed as having unlikely survival probabilities. Local officials reports that conditions were VFR at the time of the accident.

The three crew persons and two passengers on board were identified as 78-year-old patient Guy Richard Folger of Alpine, and his 59-year-old wife, Mary Folger. Crewing the flight were two flight nurses, 49-year-old Sharon Falkener of Fort Davis, and 42-year-old Tracy Chambers of Alpine. The aircraft was piloted by Ted Caffarel of Beaumont, 59.

The Cessna 421, a piston twin-engine pressurized aircraft, was reportedly owned and operated by O’Hara Flying Service of Amarillo, TX, as part of its AASTAT (Air Ambulance Stat) program, the medical wing of O'Hara flying Service. The service reports that it 'specialize(s) in hospital to hospital transfers with a focus on rural hospital needs.'

This was the second C421 accident for O'Hara... in May 8, 2009, another OFS C421 went down to an engine failure, again in an open field. The pilot and sole occupant survived with minor injuries.

FMI: www.ntsb.gov, www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20090511X84350&key=1