Helicopter

Maryland's world-renowned emergency medical system took a hit when a state police helicopter crashed in Prince George's County last fall, killing four people on board. Subsequent calls for change in the way Maryland operates its emergency medical system prompted an intense review of policies on transporting patients to trauma centers around the state and that has led to some needed reforms, with more to come. But the emergency medical system's service to all Marylanders should be preserved as a publicly funded and operated network for accident victims.

WASHINGTON -- It is touted as one of the Army's most lethal weapons, a fearsome-looking helicopter that can whiz along at more than 150 mph, pop up undetected from behind hills and spew a torrent of missiles, rockets and banana-size bullets.But when the Apaches were called upon for the Kosovo conflict, it took nearly a month to get the helicopters in place. And they never saw combat, though two pilots were killed in training accidents.Then the Army's most respected helicopter officer unleashed a stinging salvo, telling his superiors that the Apache pilots were not properly trained and the aircraft carried outdated equipment.

Anne Arundel County acting Police Chief Thomas P. Shanahan authorized use of the department helicopter to keep an eye on his officers and banned them from patrolling a major highway -- all to ensure their good behavior during contract negotiations.Officers ratified a contract last night, but over the previous 12 days, the chief spent more than $2,000 in county money watching over rank-and-file officers."I use a helicopter as a tool to manage resources," said Shanahan. "My obligation is to the citizens of this county."

A Baltimore County zoning commissioner allowed Rite Aid Chairman Martin L. Grass one takeoff and one landing each day in Green Spring Valley for his company's helicopter yesterday, despite the objections of neighbors in a dispute that has raged for more than a year and spans two states.The roar of the chopper from Grass' daily commute to Rite Aid headquarters in Harrisburg, Pa., lasts 15 seconds -- not enough to create "detriment to the surrounding neighborhood," said Deputy Zoning Commissioner Timothy M. Kotroco.

Federal officials investigating Wednesday's helicopter crash that killed a Baltimore police officer have found two holes in the engine casing, which has led them to focus their attention on a new motor installed 13 days before the accident.James J. Cain of the National Transportation Safety Board said yesterday that the engine from the crumpled helicopter has to be taken apart to determine a cause for the accident. "It [the engine] looks like it seized, but when, I don't know," he said.The investigator said similarities were found between the condition of the crashed helicopter's engine and the engine of Baltimore police helicopter of the same model involved in a July 1997 accident.

The pilot of a private helicopter and his passenger were killed yesterday afternoon when their aircraft crashed and burst into flames in a marshy field on Kent Island in Queen Anne's County, authorities said.The crash occurred about 11 miles south of the eastern end of the Bay Bridge, less than a mile south of Romancoke in a marshy field near Green Creek.Pronounced dead at the scene were the pilot, Andrew Louis Simon, 54, of Silver Spring, and his passenger, Edward S. Mehlman, 62, of Bethesda, state police said.

Fed up with bureaucratic delays of their attempts to ground the noisy helicopter of Rite Aid Corp. Chairman Martin L. Grass, Green Spring Valley residents have gone to court.Yesterday, a group of neighbors from the valley sought an injunction in Baltimore County Circuit Court to halt Grass' daily commute in a $3.5 million chopper from Helmore Farm, near Falls and Greenspring Valley roads.A Feb. 25 hearing has been set, said G. Macy Nelson, attorney for the neighbors.Grass, who continues to take off from property protected by highly restrictive RC-2 zoning, has been commuting to Rite Aid's Harrisburg, Pa., headquarters since June.

Federal investigators are trying to determine whether a faulty engine that caused a Baltimore police helicopter to crash, killing its pilot, was shoddily assembled by replacement workers during a strike at a Pennsylvania company.Jim Cain, an investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board, said he does not know why a connecting rod flew loose and punctured two holes in the engine casing of the Schweizer 300C chopper.But Cain said the four-cylinder engine "was built during the time-frame" of a contentious labor dispute at the Textron-Wycoming plant in Williamsport, Pa. He said investigators "are trying to determine" whether replacement workers built the motor.

Federal investigators are trying to determine whether a faulty engine that caused a Baltimore police helicopter to crash, killing its pilot, was shoddily assembled by replacement workers during a strike at a Pennsylvania company.Jim Cain, an investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board, said he does not know why a connecting rod flew loose and punctured two holes in the engine casing of the Schweizer 300C chopper.But Cain said the four-cylinder engine "was built during the time-frame" of a contentious labor dispute at the Textron-Wycoming plant in Williamsport, Pa. He said investigators "are trying to determine" whether replacement workers built the motor.

As players fought for yardage on the field at the Ravens stadium this weekend, news crews jockeyed for position in the sky, creating what some called a perilous traffic jam in the air, buzzing and aggravating many of the 65,938 fans and threatening public safety."

A state police helicopter pilot's decision to make a rapid descent in an attempt to see better in fog was the chief cause of the medevac crash that killed four people last year near Andrews Air Force Base, the National Transportation Safety Board concluded. The board said Steven Bunker of Waldorf, who was killed in the Sept. 28, 2008, crash, failed to stop the descent at the proper altitude. The NTSB found no mechanical problems and determined that the helicopter's navigational instruments were working properly.

The first thing Maryland State Trooper John Peach does when asked about the dangers of flying medical helicopters is to take out his cell phone with a picture of his wife, Kate, and 2-year-old daughter Elizabeth. He held up the image for me as he prepared his 38-foot Dauphin craft for his next call while parked in a hangar at Martin State Airport this week. He readily acknowledges that after the crash last September that killed two of his friends, pilot Stephen H. Bunker and Trooper Mickey C. Lippy, along with a volunteer emergency medical technician and a patient, in heavy fog in Prince George's County, he's a bit more wary of going out. "It was a little difficult at first," he told me. Peach told me that his daughter, even at such a young age, points to the sky every time a helicopter soars overhead.

Maryland's world-renowned emergency medical system took a hit when a state police helicopter crashed in Prince George's County last fall, killing four people on board. Subsequent calls for change in the way Maryland operates its emergency medical system prompted an intense review of policies on transporting patients to trauma centers around the state and that has led to some needed reforms, with more to come. But the emergency medical system's service to all Marylanders should be preserved as a publicly funded and operated network for accident victims.

7 named to state panel on Medevac guidelines The agency that manages Maryland's emergency medical system appointed a seven-member panel yesterday to explore the state's guidelines for determining when trauma patients should be transported in helicopters. It is a response to last month's fatal crash in Prince George's County. The panel, which includes prominent critics and proponents of helicopter medical transport, will meet "in the near future," but a schedule was not released. The Sept.

AURORA, Ill. - A helicopter that crashed while transferring an infant girl between hospitals overnight likely hit a radio tower guy wire with enough force to rip the main rotor blade shaft from the craft while it was still in the air, investigators said yesterday. The collision showered an apartment complex parking lot nearby with rotor fragments and sent the helicopter into an out-of-control spin that ended in a fiery crash in a field below, killing all four aboard. "A rotor blade is not designed to travel through anything but air," said National Transportation Safety Board Investigator-in-Charge John Brannen.

As I awakened last Sunday to an overcast sky, dense fog and a steady rain in Sussex County, Del., news of the crash of a Maryland State Police medevac helicopter brought back some very sad memories of an early Sunday morning 22 years ago. I was the chief spokesman for the Maryland State Police when the phone rang early on Jan. 19, 1986. It was the duty officer at state police headquarters calling to inform me of the disappearance of one of our medevac helicopters overnight and to request my assistance in the search.

A teenager survives a weekend car accident with little if any physical injuries, only to die in the crash of the Maryland State Police helicopter that was whisking her to a trauma center. Did the 17-year-old really need to be flown to the hospital, especially in such bad weather that night? The chopper transporting Ashley J. Younger and the driver of the car wasn't equipped with an electronic warning device that helps pilots fly in low visibility and avoid crashing into the ground. State police outfitted three other helicopters with the "early ground proximity warning system" during upgrades in recent years; why not the entire fleet?

BAGHDAD - A U.S. military official said a mechanical problem appeared to be the reason for a helicopter crash yesterday that killed seven American soldiers in Iraq's southern desert, the deadliest such incident in Iraq in more than a year. The CH-47 Chinook was flying with three other choppers from Kuwait when it went down shortly after midnight about 60 miles west of Basra, the military said. Also yesterday, the military said an American soldier fatally shot two U.S. sergeants Sunday morning at a base southeast of Baghdad.

Almost half of the patients flown by helicopter to Maryland trauma centers are released within 24 hours, making some lawmakers wonder whether the state's vaunted Medevac system is overused. At an Annapolis hearing this morning, legislators plan to question state medical officials about the discharge rates and overall efficiency of the Medevac program. The hearing was prompted in part by a legislative audit last month that was critical of the Maryland State Police's fiscal management and maintenance of the program's aging 12-helicopter fleet.

Baltimore police officers ripped up and confiscated 63 mature marijuana plants yesterday from Gwynns Falls Park, in a spot near a stream and so secluded that they could be seen only by officers overhead in a helicopter, authorities said. Sgt. Osborne Robinson, head of the Gwynns Falls trail unit, said each 6-foot-tall plant, neatly planted in rows and attached to stakes, can produce about 1 pound of marijuana, each worth about $1,000, he said. Robinson said officers also found gardening tools and a bucket - apparently used to haul water from the stream - secured under a tarp.