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Thu Feb 19 18:22:05 GMT 2009

http://www.wbbm780.com/Air-Ambulance-Company-Shuts-Its-Doors/3882933

Air Ambulance Company Shuts Its Doors

CHICAGO (WBBM)  -- Newsradio 780 has learned that the suburban air ambulance
company involved in an October helicopter crash that killed four people laid
off all of its employees today and shut its doors.

Brooke and Robert Blockinger, the parents of Kristin Blockinger, were
present for the NTSB hearing. They submitted written testimony and demanded
that the safety board implement changes so that no other family suffers
their loss.

Fourteen month old Kristin Blockinger was being transported on the Air
Angels flight late on Oct. 15, 2008, from Valley West Hospital in Sandwich,
Ill., to Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago, when the helicopter
crashed into a radio tower and went plummeting to the ground.

Kristin was killed, along with pilot Del Waugh, 69, nurse William Mann, 31,
and paramedic Ronald Battiato, 41.

Now, when Brooke and Robert Blockinger think of their infant daughter,
dismiss the notion that time heals all wounds. They say that can't happen
when they think of 14-month-old Kirstin's eyes that "danced with life" or
"smile that melted your heart," or when struggling to help Kirstin's
2-year-old brother understand where she went.

Further, they point out that medical helicopters, similar to the Air Angels
aircraft where Kirstin spent her final minutes, showing a poor safety record
in recent years -- a preventable trend, in their estimation.

The Blockingers' comments, their first since they sued Air Angels the late
Waugh last month, were submitted to the National Transportation Safety Board
for consideration during four days of hearings on safety in the medical
helicopter industry.

"What we have learned since (the Aurora crash), to our dismay and rising
anger, is that helicopter EMS operations suffer lapses in operational
safety, deficiencies in key safety equipment, lack of essential procedures
and lax oversight," the Blockingers wrote in the statement provided by their
attorneys.

"In this day and age, colliding inadvertently with man-made towers,
buildings, bridges and whatnot is inexcusable."

The NTSB agrees there are serious safety problems with medical helicopters.
At the hearing, data revealed the rate of medical helicopter accidents is
growing, and 77 percent are caused by human error. The most common are
collisions with objects.

The Air Angels company is not represented at the hearing, but the panel did
hear from a helicopter industry spokesman who says technology like terrain
avoidance warning systems can help. But it is not currently required for
these kinds of flights.

The NTSB held discussions after a series of crashes killed 35 people in a
12-month span. Those deaths occurred after the NTSB issued a series of
safety recommendations for medical helicopters in 2006.

Investigators have not issued a probable cause in October's crash, but its
findings released so far lean toward the likelihood of pilot error. The Bell
22 helicopter showed no signs of mechanical problems and the weather was not
a factor, the NTSB reported.

Other than its altitude, Waugh's flight path showed nothing out of the
ordinary occurred before the aircraft struck a radio tower owned by WBIG-AM
just northwest of Eola Road and Liberty Street in Aurora, just before
midnight on Oct. 15.

-- 
Stephen L. Richey, CRT

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