NTSB Blames Pilot in Maryland Medevac Crash
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- We finally know the most-likely cause of that horrible crash of a Maryland State Police helicopter.
The pilot, two medics, and an accident victim died a year ago --and just one teenager survived.
The National Transportation Safety Board is blaming pilot Stephen Bunker, who unexpectedly flew into a dense cloud bank, and then tried desperately to get below it.
He was looking so frantically for the ground that he ignored an altimeter that might have warned him he was about to crash into it.
But the Board also says a whole series of other mistakes by air traffic controllers contributed to the crisis.
"I wear the bracelet with everyone's name on it," says Jordan Wells, who was the only survivor. She'll never forget the crash that killed her friend Ashley and three other people trying to rush the teens to a hospital.
"The look on Lippy's face, then I heard something brush against the helicopter," says Wells. "Then I blacked out because I broke this side of my face."
Wells came to the NTSB hearing, hoping the long investigation will help save other lives.
"You can only hope," she says. "You can only pray that it will fix things and make them better."
"The probable cause of this accident was the pilots attempt to regain visual conditions by performing a rapid descent," the NTSB's David Mayer told the board.
It was a miserable night, and the pilot briefly considered refusing the mission. But based in part on five hour old weather data, he decided to go anyway. And that bad data was just one of the "numerous procedural deficiencies" the NTSB blamed on air traffic controllers, "...including unresponsiveness, inattention, and poor radar vectoring," said Mayer.
Bunker had almost three decades of experience, but it had been a long time since he'd practiced an instrument landing. And when he suddenly flew into heavy fog, he failed to follow procedures.
The NTSB is recommending that all public air ambulances be regulated just like commercial aircraft. It's also pushing for formal risk assessments on every flight, and for new technology like night vision goggles and terrain awareness warning systems.
"We want to make sure when they're going to save a life, they don't lose their life, or risk other lives," says chair Deborah Hersman.
The NTSB also criticized the Maryland State Police for its performance after the crash. It took some time for the agency to even realize the chopper had gone down -- and then an hour or so to find it. If not for the heroic efforts of a couple of troopers, it might have taken hours longer to discover the crash scene -- even though it was right on an electronic map at Syscom, but just hard to read.
The Maryland State Police says it has already corrected many of the problems, and is working on others. And the NTSB praised the agency for its cooperation.
Republished with permission of WUSA-TV.
