Three Killed -- Official Says Dispatchers Broke Procedure

The investigation continues into last Wednesday's crash of a Messerschmitt-Boelkow Blohm Bo-105S helicopter that was on a medical mission in the Florida Panhandle. All three people on board were killed. As tragic as the accident was, the events surrounding it have raised procedural questions in Florida's Walton County. The aircraft was missing for five hours before anyone noticed.

The pilot, 63-year old Tom Palcic, had 27-years experience in aviation. He, a flight nurse and another crew member had just departed Santa Rosa Beach (FL) for DeFuniak Springs (FL) where they were to pick up a critically ill heart patient. Shortly after take-off at around 0100 local, Palcic radioed Walton County emergency dispatchers, saying he was turning back according to Walton County Emergency Operations Director Ed Baltzley. The weather was bad, with thunderstorms in the vicinity.

That's where things in the dispatch center went wrong, Baltzley said. When Palcic didn't call in to the county emergency operations center upon landing, dispatchers were supposed to contact them. That, said Baltzley, didn't happen. And so the accident went unnoticed and unreported until 0600. That's when the AirHEART helicopter's relief crew showed up at the airport, only to find the hangar was empty.

Would quicker notification have saved Palcic and his crew? Probably not, according to Walton County Sheriff's Captain Stan Sunday. The trauma they suffered on impact was to severe, he said.

The helicopter wreckage was found in nearby Choctawhatchee Bay later that day. It's now been removed from the bay and taken to a warehouse in Destin (FL), where it was to be examined by investigators with the NTSB.

FAA Preliminary Accident Report

IDENTIFICATION
 Regis#: 916SH    Make/Model: BO10   Description: MESSERSCHMITT-BOELKOW BLOHM BO-105S
 Date: 10/20/2004   Time: 0545

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

LOCATION
 City: FORT WALTON BEACH      State: FL  Country: US

DESCRIPTION
 N916SH, MESSERSCHMITT BO-105S ROTORCRAFT CRASHED UNDER UNKNOWN
 CIRCUMSTANCES, THE THREE PERSONS ON BOARD WERE FATALLY INJURED, ACFT WAS A
 SUBJECT OF AN ALERT NOTICE, WRECKAGE LOCATED IN THE CHOCTAWATCHEE BAY, FORT
 WALTON BEACH, FL

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

WEATHER: UNK                                    

OTHER DATA
 Activity: Air Ambulance   Phase: Unknown   Operation: Air Taxi (On Demand)

 Departed: SANTA ROSA BEACH, FL    Dep Date: 10/20/2004  Dep. Time:  
 Destination: DEFUNAK, FL       Flt Plan: NONE     Wx Briefing: U
 Last Radio Cont: NONE
 Last Clearance: NONE

 FAA FSDO: BIRMINGHAM, AL (SO09)        Entry date: 10/21/2004

FMI: http://sacred-heart.org/airheart1.asp, www.ntsb.gov