Aviation Law Monitor : Aviation Lawyer & Attorney : Michael Danko Law Firm : California Airplane & Helicopter Crashes : Aviation Law Monitor

Who can be held responsible for compensating the Mountain Lifeflight families, and who is immune from suit?   

Maintenance.  If faulty maintenance is proven to be the cause of this helicopter crash, the families can recover against the maintenance company, provided that the families can prove that the maintenance company was negligent.  There is an important exception, however.  The families cannot sue the company that performed the maintenance if that company was Mountain Lifeflight itself.  That's because the worker's compensation laws immunize a crew member's employer from suit brought by the crew member's family.  More on that here.

Pilot error.  There is no reason to believe that the crash was caused by pilot error.  To the contrary, as discussed here, it looks as though the crash was likely caused by a mechanical failure.  However, assuming for argument's sake that the crash was caused by pilot error, the workers' compensation laws prohibit the families from suing either the pilot's estate or the pilot's employer.

Design defect.  Other A-Star accidents similar to this one raise the question of whether the crash was caused by the helicopter's faulty design.  The families are entitled to sue the aircraft's manufacturer, Eurocopter, and get to the bottom of the design defect issue.  If the families prove that the crash was in fact caused by a defect in the design of the helicopter, then they can hold Eurocopter responsible.

But there is one hurdle the families must overcome before winning a design defect suit.  The accident helicopter, N5793P, was manufactured in 1982.  The General Aviation Revitalization Act, or GARA, immunizes manufacturers from liability from lawsuits arising from aircraft that are older than 18 years.  At first blush, it would seem that the families have no recourse against the manufacturer at all.  But there is an important exception to GARA.   If the accident occurred as a result of a new part that was installed on the aircraft less than 18 years before the accident, the manufacturer can't assert the defense, no matter how old the aircraft.  And it has been reported that N5793P had been completely rebuilt only a few years before the crash.  Therefore, even though the helicopter was manufactured more than 27 years ago, it's likely that most critical parts on the aircraft were less than 18 years old, and that GARA won't protect the manufacturer.

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The NTSB's preliminary report on the crash contains little more than what was in the news accounts. The report does, however, offer one bit of new information.  The helicopter impacted on a magnetic heading of 230 degrees.  That heading is not in line with the route from Reno to Susanville.  While that might ultimately prove to be important, little can be made of that information without a careful examination of the layout of the terrain near the accident site and the roadway that the pilot might have been using to aid in his navigation.     

Though the information in the NTSB's official report is sparse, an NTSB spokesman did offer his expanded comments to Mary Pat Flaherty, a reporter for the Washington Post who has been following the poor EMS safety record during the past months. The NTSB's Ted Lopatkiewicz told Flaherty that the Mountain Lifeflight helicopter didn't have certain important safety equipment.  Lopatkiewicz was referring to the helicopter's lack of an autopilot, a ground proximity warning system, night vision goggles (discussed in this post), and other equipment necessary to navigate in poor weather.

But in this case the pilot was flying in good weather.  He did not collide with the ground because he could not see it.  Rather, as discussed here, it appears that the pilot crashed because of some type of mechanical problem with the helicopter.  It's unlikely the helicopter's lack of advanced equipment played any role in the accident at all. 

Related Posts:

Compensating the Families of the Mountain Lifeflight EMS Crash

Mountain Lifeflight EMS Helicopter Crash at Doyle, California

EMS Helicopter Safety: NTSB Pushes the Envelope

OSC: FAA Ignoring EMS Helicopter Dangers For Fear of Negative Publicity 

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An A-Star AS350B air ambulance helicopter crashed November 14 at Doyle, California, killing the three crew members on board.  According to an article in the Reno Gazette Journal, the pilot made a distress call before the crash. That indicates that the pilot was likely experiencing a mechanical emergency. The photographs accompanying the article show that the wreckage was spread over a fairly large area.  That indicates that the pilot lost control of the helicopter well before he was able to attempt an emergency landing.

Under the circumstances, the NTSB will be looking at the helicopter's hydraulic actuator system carefully.  The actuators move the helicopter's rotor blades, allowing the pilot to control the flight of the aircraft. The AS350B's hydraulics -- similar to a power steering system in a car --  help move the helicopter's actuators. 

The A-Star helicopter's hydraulics have a troubled history. The hydraulic system seems to fail frequently.  Without hydraulic assistence, the pilot may find it hard to move the actuators and thus the helicopter can be difficult to control.  In fact, one of the country's largest operators of A-Star helicopters is on record as saying that the design of the helicopter's hydraulic system is so prone to failure that it is defective and dangerous and needs to be redesigned.  

While a problem with the hydraulic system can make the helicopter difficult to control, a disconnected actuator control rod will make the helicopter impossible to control. That's what happened in 2007, when an AS350B just like the one in involved in this accident crashed in Hawaii, killing four tourists.

Days after the accident in Hawaii,  the A-Star helicopter's manufacturer, Eurocopter, issued a Special Airworthiness Bulletin (see below) prompted by two previous fatal accidents, warning of the consequences of loose servo control rod end fittings. 

This condition could lead to flight control disconnect and subsequent loss of aircraft control. Two fatal accidents have occurred after the servo-control rod end-fitting became detached from the servo-actuator. 

Of course, it's far too early to say what caused the Mountain Lifeflight accident.  But the helicopter's hydraulic actuator system is certainly something that needs to be looked at very carefully.

December 6 Update: More on this accident here.

January 14 Update: On Compensating the Mountain Lifeflight Families here. 

AS350BService Bulletin

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