Posted by chicagomedia.org on October 31, 2008 at 14:59:37:
In Reply to: WBIG off the air posted by Mike G on October 16, 2008 at 05:23:10:
Feds release Air Angels crash report
Helicopter crash focus shifts to pilot, Air Angels
With clear skies reported around the area, Air Angels pilot Del Waugh lifted off late on the night of Oct. 15 from Valley West Community Hospital in Sandwich on a northeasterly path toward Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago.
Along the route that crossed Aurora, 69-year-old Waugh kept the Bell 222 medical transport helicopter, equipped with a GPS, at an altitude consistent with where it struck a radio tower owned by WBIG-AM along Eola Road. Its rotor blade cut through a steel guy wire one-inch in diameter, striking and bending the 734-foot tower in the process.
The blade separated from the chopper, which "fragmented and burned" in a tall prairie grass field just across Eola Road. Waugh, crewmen Ron Battiato and William Mann, and their patient, 14-month-old Kirstin Blockinger, died in the crash.
Those details come from the National Transportation Safety Board's first formal account of the Air Angels accident. During the investigation's first two weeks, the NTSB has found no evidence to suggest a mechanical problem, according to the preliminary report released Thursday.
"Obviously, there was a lot of destruction to the helicopter itself," NTSB investigator John Brannen said. "With what we had to work with, there was no indication of any (mechanical) failure."
Also, countering witness claims the tower's strobe lighting system was not working, the report states a conduit carrying electrical power to the lights was cut by the rotor blade.
Brannen has previously said one video -- from the Route 59 train station -- shows the lights blinking until impact, while a second one -- from Rush-Copley Medical Center -- has the lights on about 90 minutes before the accident. Both of those videos were taken from cameras more than a mile away from the crash site.
The search for answers now shifts to Waugh.
"We're obviously looking into the pilot's background and experience," Brannen explained.
That will include his work on medical transports, his duty time and a 72-hour history prior to the crash.
Brannen would not discuss what, if anything, investigators have already learned about Waugh. The report indicates his latest medical exam was in January and his "current biennial flight review" took place in September.
Brannen noted that based on radio and radar information, Waugh was aware of his altitude, which was approximately 684 feet, based on where the tower was damaged.
"We've not found any reason, at this point, as to why this flight was conducted at that altitude," he said.
Although skies were reported clear at DuPage and Aurora airports, an NTSB weather expert from Washington will determine if any clouds were present around the tower's location.
In line with the NTSB's larger probe of medical transport crashes around the country, the Aurora investigation also will involve the Air Angels company.
"We're looking into Air Angels' operation ... how they dispatch their aircraft, things like that," Brannen added.
Air Angels service remains grounded amid the company's internal investigation, according to company spokesman Mike Dermont. Crew members are currently going through flight safety training, he said, with hopes that Air Angels choppers will be back in the air within two weeks. The company's critical care ground service resumed on Tuesday.
Dermont said the NTSB narrative was in line with the company's expectations. Nothing in the preliminary report "stands out as a reason or a conclusion as to why this happened," he said.
A factual report and one addressing a probable cause are likely to be ready early next year, Brannen said.
Staff writer Andre Salles contributed to this story.
(Dan Campana, St. Charles Sun)