Posted on 11/29/2020 10:51:15 AM PST by ransomnote
DENVER – United States Attorney Jason R. Dunn announced that Air Methods Corporation has agreed to pay $825,000 to settle a civil case alleging that the company violated Federal Aviation Administration (“FAA”) regulations by operating an emergency-services helicopter with severely corroded pitot tubes.
Pitot tubes are components of the pressure measurement system used to determine airspeed. If a pitot tube is not functioning properly, it can cause the airspeed reflected on a helicopter’s instruments to vary significantly from the actual airspeed, cause the helicopter’s auto-pilot to disengage, and present serious safety concerns.
Air Methods, headquartered in Greenwood Village, Colorado, is the country’s largest air medical transport services provider. Air Methods provides emergency transportation to trauma victims, and other patients requiring urgent transfers between medical facilities on its fleet of more than 450 helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft.
Air Methods’ aviation operations are regulated by the FAA, which, as part of its mission to ensure safety, routinely inspects aircraft within its jurisdiction.
The United States contends that on November 4, 2014, an FAA Aviation Safety Inspector inspected an Air Methods helicopter in Tampa, Florida. During that inspection, the safety inspector noticed that the helicopter’s pitot tubes were severely corroded and crumbling to the touch. The inspector informed Air Methods and took photographs to document the corrosion.
When Air Methods showed the photographs to the manufacturer of the helicopter, an employee of the manufacturer responded that the parts were “obviously” outside the scope of what would be considered serviceable to keep a pitot tube in service and recommended replacing the part(s) “as soon as possible.” Internally, Air Methods’ employees agreed that severely corroded pitot tubes “are way beyond acceptable” and “indicative that our crews are not paying attention.” Even so, Air Methods continued to operate the helicopter with severely corroded pitot tubes for several more days before replacing the parts.
On November 4, 2019, the United States filed a civil action, United States v. Air Methods Corp., 19-cv-03130-RM-NRN (D. Colo.), seeking to recover civil penalties from Air Methods. The United States contended that, by operating an air-ambulance helicopter with severely corroded pitot tubes, Air Methods violated FAA “airworthiness” regulations, which require aircraft to be in a condition for safe operation.
Air Methods has now agreed to pay $825,000 to settle the lawsuit.
“When an FAA safety inspector informs an air-ambulance company about a potential safety issue, the company needs to address it immediately,” said U.S. Attorney Jason Dunn. “The consequences of not working cooperatively with the FAA to minimize safety risks can be disastrous for the crew and for those being transported while seriously ill or injured. This settlement reflects how seriously we take any regulatory violations that could create such unnecessary risks.”
The claims against Air Methods are allegations, and in agreeing to settle this matter, Air Methods did not admit to any liability.
This case was being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ian Kellogg and Andrea Wang in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado.
You might be thinking of Air France Flight 447 that came down after leaving Rio de Janeiro for Paris back in 2009.
Some are cast aluminum. In coastal climates the aluminum corrodes into a white oxide, leaving big pits.
Roughly the RPMS and nose attitude should get you by.
Agreed. There is more to this story.
When a discrepancy like that is found the aircraft is not legal to fly until it's fixed. If you fly it anyway and the FAA finds out then they WILL fine you. It's not a matter of "gee, shucks, I thought I could get a few more flights out of it", it's down and you can't fly it until it's returned to airworthiness and signed off by a FAA certified mechanic.
It sounds like they ignored the FAR's and got caught. I don't see where they have any cause to whine about it.
Some are cast aluminum. In coastal climates the aluminum corrodes into a white oxide, leaving big pits.
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You are correct and a quick search after I posted it revealed that. I’ve just not seen aluminium used but it makes sense.
Ultimately, it is the PILOT IN COMMAND who is responsible for the safe operation of the flight. Not the company that owns it. Not the company that operates it. Not the supervisor, the A&P mechanic, the PILOT. He’s at fault here. That bird should never have flown.
Stainless reacts poorly in heat transfer. Aluminum is gar superior in that physical characteristic. It would take a lot of amps to power a heating element inside a block of stainless steel vs. Aluminum at 150MPH in precipitation. Stainless also likes to twist and do weird things under heat.
Having worked in aviation maintenance for 36 years I can safely say its way past wrong....way past criminal also. If maintenance records weren’t kept or kept up to date or forged people might (and probably should) go to jail.....seen it before.
Actually the director of maintenance who is in charge of the 100 hour inspections is culpable. Air ambulance and charter flights dont do annuals. Such an operator submits their operating plan to the FAA when issued their carrier certificate. Its up to that carrier to do what they say in their maintenance operations. If not, the operating certificate gets revoked, and hence a settlement to protect that. Most likely fired the director as well.
Look up Carson Helicopter. You’ll see what happens when you fudge the records of maintenance and flight operations. Yes, jail time.
I hate when that happens.
Unlike the myth that they just gently autorotate to the ground when they have a problem.
That certainly seems to be the case.
Of course, my buddy that flies an RV9, if someone asks how far it will glide unpowered, says “All the way to the crash site!”
Surprising that a pilot would fly any aircraft with those danger signals.
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