Poorly Installed Part Found on Ill-Fated Copter

Federal authorities investigating the crash of a Life Flight medical helicopter in San Diego in May have found that a valve controlling pressure on a secondary hydraulic control system was improperly installed.

That secondary system had kicked into operation on the helicopter after the primary system failed in-flight for reasons that officials were unable to determine, said Jim Wall, an investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board in Los Angeles. A wrongly installed valve could result in major difficulty in controlling the craft, Wall said Wednesday.

The West German-made helicopter crashed on Interstate 5 early on May 9 shortly after takeoff from Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla. The pilot was seriously injured and a doctor and paramedic suffered minor injuries. The $1.5-million aircraft was destroyed.

Wall this week is completing his crash report, which will be forwarded to the NTSB’s board of directors in Washington. The directors will use the report in making an official finding of probable cause for the accident later this year.

“We are not stating what the cause was (in our report),” Wall said Wednesday. “We are saying what our investigation found.”

Life Flight, with its three evacuation helicopters, is a critical component of the San Diego County trauma system. By its fast coverage of the 4,300-square-mile county region, it allows medical officials to limit the number of specialized trauma centers countywide to six. The three craft flew 180 missions in December.

The hydraulic control systems operate by forcing liquid through a tube or other device to create pressure, which then is directed to operate various mechanical systems on the craft.

Wall said NTSB investigators were unable to find evidence to explain why the primary control system failed and switched over to the back-up system. He did say that there was no indication that the crew had affected the primary controls.

“In the secondary system, we found that the valve controlling all pressure had been installed improperly,” Wall said. “If not on there correctly, it could cause problems.”

Operation of the helicopters, which are overseen jointly by the trauma centers, is handled under contract by Evergreen Helicopters, with main offices in McMinnville, Ore. A vice president of operations for Evergreen in Los Angeles, John Kiesler, declined to comment Wednesday on the NTSB report because Evergreen had not yet received a copy.

Two of the three Life Flight helicopters are based at the UC San Diego Medical Center, and a third operates from Palomar Airport in Carlsbad. A UCSD spokeswoman said Wednesday that all of the pilots and maintenance personnel are Evergreen employees. Only the doctors and paramedics are employed under the county trauma system, said Pat JaCoby, an information officer at UCSD.

The increasing number of medical helicopter accidents nationwide has become a concern to aviation officials. In 1986, 13 people died in 14 medical helicopter accidents. Based on hours of flying time, such helicopters are twice as likely to crash as other types of helicopters and 2.5 times as likely to crash as small planes and other non-commercial aircraft, according to the National Emergency Medical Services Pilots Assn.

Most of the minor accidents in 1986 were the result of mechanical defects such as loss of power and fuel-linkage problems. The more serious accidents were caused from pilot error and weather conditions. Medical emergency helicopters often are required to fly in uncertain weather and to land in marginal areas, such as agricultural fields or highway median strips.

The May 9 accident has been the only one under the 7-year-old Life Flight program.