In Memoriam, Hermann Hospital Life Flight 1.

Doggtyred

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Dave
On July 17, 1999, Memorial Hermann Life Flight 1 was dispatched on an interhospital transfer from suburban Clear Lake Regional Medical Center. As the aircraft had been flying thoughout the day, the decision was made to fuel prior to picking up the patient.

While on a visual approach to the remote fueling location in Fresno, TX (about 10 miles south of the Texas Medical Center complex), the aircraft called "Landing at fast fuel" and was not heard from again.

When the aircraft failed to check in on the ground and the crew was unreachable, an overdue aircraft alert was issued. Houston Police Dept's Fox aviation unit found the wreckage of the aircraft located in the pasture adjacent to the fuel site. There were no survivors.

The investigation revealed that one of the 4 tension-torsion straps that secure the 4 rotor blades to the rigid rotor hub had failed, slinging a rotor, unbalancing the rotor assembly and causing the hub and transmission to depart the aircraft at an altitude of several hundred feet. Before this accident this part had no established life limit or special inspection requirements, and this was an unprecedented accident on the BK-117 airframe.

The pilot, John Pittman, had a reputation amongst his peers as being uber safe, and uber picky about the weather. He was one of the driving reasons behind Herman's reputation as one of the safest programs in the nation. He gave me my helipad orientation when I came to work at UTMB Trauma Center in Galveston, which was a satellite LifeFlight base. Mac Attenbury was known for his love of fast cars, and was a great paramedic that I'd first met with Cypress Creek EMS and then went on to make many scenes with back in my ground EMS Days. Lynn Etheridge, while not as familiar to me, was a veteran ER nurse from UTMB before moving to Hermann Hospital's Trauma Center then being selected for flight duty.

The callsign LifeFlight 1, attached to tail number N110HH, was retired from service.

http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief2.asp?ev_id=20001212X19258&ntsbno=FTW99FA192&akey=1
 
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Very nice tribute indeed. I'm quite familiar with the helipad at UTMB. My Iowa DMAT team ran the UTMB ER for 2 weeks immediately following Hurricane Ike and lived in tents across the street. We sometimes had 3 helos on the pad at the same time.
 
On this 15th anniversary of the accident, my thread and comment has been paid the ultimate compliment. It was found in a google search, by a personal friend (non-aviation type) of mine in EMS, who was looking for something to explain the reason (to the newbies in our circles) for the tributes to the fallen crew, and posted this thread on his Facebook wall....
 
Thanks for posting. I learned to fly at that airport and didn't know the story. I now work at Ben Taub (next to Herman) and park on the roof of the garage so that I can watch the Life Flights come and go. There are way to many and I have seen 3 on the helipad at the same time. Special thanks to all who do this for the rest of us.
 
Spent 6 years working as flight paramedic paying my way through undergrad and during first couple years of medical school.

I definitely cringe every time I hear of an accident. In fact after landing tonight at Steamboat I watched Aeromedical helicopter approach over the ski area from Denver. I definitely look at the risk differently then I did 15 years ago. Flying in mountains at night with single engine aircraft just scares me. Kudos to those who do it. I was fortunate to be carried safely in the Dauphin and S76, and realize I was so spoiled with what we had.
 
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