By The River

Word comes of a tragic Maryland State Police medevac helicopter crash in suburban Washington, D.C. The copter crashed near Capitol Heights, inside the Beltway, while carrying two traffic accident victims to Prince Georges Hospital. The two pilots, a Charles County medical technician, and one of the patients were killed. Miraculously, the crashed occurred in a forest, and no one on the ground was injured or killed.

Accidents like this are why I keep pushing for a ban on medevac helicopter overflights of my Shipoke neighborhood along the Susquehanna River in Harrisburg, Pa. Shipoke is on the most convenient approach path, but NOT the only approach path, to Pinnacle Hospital's rooftop helipad a few blocks to the north. The STAT-Medevac helicopters and others who bring patients (never highway accident victims) to Pinnacle must be required to approach the hospital over the river.

I'd like to stress again that unless Pinnacle lied on its original application to the FAA for the helicopter service, which occurred with no notice to my neighborhood, these aren't traffic accident victims coming in. They are mainly coming to Pinnacle from small rural hospitals around the state for specialized medical care, includinging poison victims. There is no reason the helicopters couldn't land at Capital City Airport and be met by ambulances.

Whenever I write on this subject, I get angry comments from people I suspect are Pinnacle or STAT-Medevac employees telling me that they hope I or my family are left on the highway by a medevac helicopter if we're involved in an accident (see above), or that I am selfish for complaining about helicopter noise (do you see a noise complaint anywhere in this post?), or how I JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND that the helicopters have to fly over Shipoke (they don't). The helicopters are a profit and prestige issue for Pinnacle, so I don't expect the overflights will cease unless enough of us complain to the FAA and maybe not even then.

Posted by David at 07:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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?

Posted by David at 06:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I've managed to avoid the subject of medevac helicopters and their dangers for well over a year, but yesterday one crashed atop a hospital in downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan. It was the same sort of incident that occurred atop Pinnacle Hospital just north of my Shipoke neighborhood in Harrisburg, Pa., in November 2006, but with worse results. The $11.1 million helicopter took off from Spectrum/Butterworth Hospital, where my mother worked decades ago, and immediately crashed back to the roof, bursting into flames. Thankfully no one was killed--it was a miracle--but the top three floors of the hospital had to be evacuated.

Here's the money quote from the Grand Rapids Press story: "We could see debris flying everywhere. I could see the blades flying off. The boom shook our entire room. Then we knew something horrible had happened." You can read the rest of the Press coverage by going to this link. Now imagine pieces of helicopter blade slicing through walkers in Riverfront Park or crashing into cars stopped at the busy Second and Chestnut intersection after another crash atop Pinnacle.

The Press also provides statistics on medevac helicopter crashes from the National Transportation Safety Board: between 1998-2005, there were 89 medevac helicopter crashes that resulted in 75 deaths.

I got interested in the medevac helicopter issue out of personal annoyance--the noise of helicopters landing at Pinnacle that wakes us up at 2 a.m.--but stayed with it because of the safety issue. STAT-Medevac and other medical helicopters continue to fly over my neighborhood out of convenience instead of doing the safe thing, coming up the Susquehanna River and then making a 100 yard turn to land on the hospital roof. I stress again that unless Pinnacle officials lied to the FAA in their initial application, these aren't road accident victims coming in for emergency treatment. They are routine transfers of patients who need types of surgery their own little local hospitals can't offer. There is no reason the helicopters couldn't land at Capital City Airport in New Cumberland and meet ambulances for the remaining three mile journey.

But it's a prestige thing for Pinnacle. Important downtown hospitals have rooftop helipads. Unimportant ones don't. There needs to be strict federal government oversight of these operations to prevent tragedies. I don't want my next 2 a.m. wake-up call to be a frantic order to run because one of the helicopters on the way to Pinnacle has crashed into a row of homes in Shipoke and set the neighborhood on fire.

Posted by David at 05:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This scary accident shows why medevac helicopters must be barred from flying over Shipoke and other neighborhoods in the city of Harrisburg on their way to and from Pinnacle Hospital. The helicopters frequently fly directly over Shipoke. The noise can be deafening, enough to wake you up, but my main concern has always been safety.

According to the Patriot-News story, the Stat-Medevac helicopter landed at 3 a.m. with a poisoning patient from Sayre, Pa., probably the Guthrie Clinic. When the helicopter tried to take off from Pinnacle's rooftop landing pad, he almost immediately lost power and crashed back to the roof.

What if that helicopter had gotten airborne and then lost engine power? Pinnacle has a populated neighborhood along Washington Street just a block south of the helipad, and Shipoke is barely three blocks to the south. He could well have come crashing down into occupied homes. Pinnacle operates this service for public service, but also revenue and, yes, prestige. If what the hospital said when it applied for the service was true, these aren't car accident victims scooped off the highway. They are people coming in for surgery or other treatment that isn't offered at smaller hospitals in the region like the Guthrie Clinic.

If Pinnacle insists on these flights, they need to be routed over the Susquehanna River, not over Shipoke. The overflights have to stop NOW. If that's inconvenient for pilots, too bad. Or they could land at Capital City Airport in New Cumberland and transfer the patients to ambulances for a quick ride across the river. There are several options for this service that do not require the people of Shipoke to risk their own safety for a profit-making venture for Pinnacle.

Posted by David at 06:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I was awakened twice last night by the noise of helicopters heading to or from Pinnacle Health hospital in downtown Harrisburg. The first time was the worst. It sounded like the damn thing was hovering right over my house in Shipoke. This happens all the time. My children say it's scary. When Pinnacle began helicopter service three years ago, it said the helicopter service wasn't going to be used for scooping up car accident victims to bring them to the hospital. The stated purpose was to get referrals from smaller hospitals for advanced medical services. Somehow I doubt that a lot of referrals for this sort of thing are made at 1 or 2 in the morning. Basicly, Pinnacle wanted to grab some of the business going to Hershey Medical Center and Geisinger Medical Center, which already had helicopters. We neighbors in Shipoke were supposed to suck it up like good little midstaters.

Far more important than the noise issue is the safety issue. Medivac helicopters crash somewhere every year. There is no excuse for these helicopters flying at low altitude over Shipoke or other neighborhoods in the city when there is a wide river that can be used as a flight path to the Pinnacle helipad, which is a short distance from the river across a section of Riverfront Park. If a helicopter is going to crash, better it be in the Susquehanna River then into a block of homes in Shipoke. One can only imagine what might have happened on the ground if a medivac helicopter that crashed in Washington, D.C., last year had come down in a residential neighborhood instead of the Potomac River.

Pinnacle, headed by Dr. Roger Longenderfer, at best pays lip service to neighborhood noise and safety complaints, but you can send yours to him at P.O. Box 8700, Harrisburg, Pa. 17105, or e-mail him at rlongenderfer@pinnaclehealth.org. The Pinnacle switchboard number is 231-8200. Pinnacle isn't about to voluntarily give up or limit the helicopter landings. This is both an economic and prestige issue for the hospital. Important hospitals have helipads. Unimportant hospitals don't. Only the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) can force them to make changes. The FAA accepts helicopter noise complaints at 9-AEA-NOISE@faa.gov or 1-718-553-3365. Keep a log of dates and times.

Our elected officials, especially the federal ones, can also bring pressure. For example, check out this news release from Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, responding to citizen complaints on Long Island about noise from helicopters flying between New York City and the resort areas of the Hamptons. U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., lived in Shipoke years ago when was an aide to State Sen. Doyle Corman. He or U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter or Rep. Tim Holden ought to step in.

Here is what I say needs to be done to eliminate or minimize the helicopter noise and safety problem in Harrisburg:

1. Limit the flights to daylight hours. If they absolutely must come at night, let them land at the airport in New Cumberland and bring the patients by ambulance from there. If these are truly not critical emergency patients, that shouldn't be a problem.

2. Ban overflights of Shipoke for safety reasons. No excuses. Approaches and departures from the Pinnacle helipad must be over the river, not populated areas.

3. Require the helicopter services to use lower-noise helicopters. Some helicopters are much noisier than others.

We aren't required to give up our safety and peace of mind for the greater glory and success of Pinnacle Health.

Posted by David at 05:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)