EMS crash underscores value of risk assessment | Aviation International News

EMS crash underscores value of risk assessment

When a veteran EMS helicopter pilot, probably thinking he was running out of options, decided to dive under a cloud deck to look for the ground, he crashed

By AIN Staff • AIN Staff

November 24, 2009

When a veteran EMS helicopter pilot, probably thinking he was running out of options, decided to dive under a cloud deck to look for the ground, he crashed his Maryland State Police (MSP) Eurocopter Dauphin into terrain about 3.2 miles north of Andrews Air Force Base (ADW), killing all on board except for one of the two teenage traffic accident victims being transported to a nearby hospital.

The NTSB has determined that the probable cause of the Sept. 27, 2008, accident was the pilot’s attempt to regain visual conditions by performing a rapid descent and his failure to arrest the descent at the minimum descent altitude (MDA) during a nonprecision approach into ADW.

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