Medevac helicopters again
Another day, another medevac helicopter disaster. And we in the Shipoke neighborhood in Harrisburg, Pa., wonder when our number will be up.
Six persons, including a patient, were killed when two medevac helicopters collided in mid-air on the way to a hospital in Flagstaff, Ariz. The collision occurred just east of the hospital. Here's a video report on the disaster. One of the helicopters exploded on the ground, starting a fire that burned nearly 10 acres of forest. Miraculously, the collision occurred over an unpopulated area. A residential area was just a few hundred yards away.
Bringing it all back home, when will the FAA take steps to protect the several hundred people who live in Shipoke under the approach path to Pinnacle Hospital's rooftop helipad? As I've written before, there need to be strict rules banning overflights of Shipoke by Stat Medevac and other medical helicopters. If there are legitimate aeronautical reasons they can't be limited to approaches over the Susquehanna River, then land the helicopters at Capital City Airport in New Cumberland and bring the patients by ambulance to the hospital. That's what a hospital in Grand Rapids, Michigan, did after a medevac helicopter crashed on its rooftop helipad. If that's not acceptable sometimes for medical reasons, fly the patients to Penn State Hershey Medical Center.
Postscript: the Arizona tragedy has finally gotten the attention of the National Transportation Safety Board, which said it will examine the medevac helicopter industry's disturbing safety record.
Don't expect Pinnacle Hospital to willingly accept new regulations of this prestige service, which never should have been approved to begin with. But unless you want to be running for your lives from a burning neighborhood someday, they must. Where is Mayor Reed on this issue?