ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 354880
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| Date: | Monday 12 January 1998 |
| Time: | 00:50 LT |
| Type: |  Bell 222UT |
| Owner/operator: | Air Methods |
| Registration: | N222UH |
| MSN: | 47545 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1985 |
| Total airframe hrs: | 6308 hours |
| Engine model: | Lycoming LTS-101-750C1 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: / Occupants: 4 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | Sandy, UT -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | Initial climb |
| Nature: | Unknown |
| Departure airport: | |
| Salt Lake City, UT | |
| Investigating agency: | NTSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
The hospital helicopter was dispatched to transport a skier, who had been injured in an avalanche. Snow was not falling when the helicopter departed the hospital, but there were 'gusty winds and light to moderate snow' during arrival at the landing zone. The dispatcher telephoned the pilot (using a cellular phone) to advise him that hospital weather conditions had deteriorated due to a fast moving front. She said it was 'snowing really hard,' the winds were gusting to 37 knots, and visibility was less than 300 feet (she could not see a wing of the hospital on the closed circuit television monitor, and could barely distinguish the helipad). A sheriff's deputy said that the helicopter took off from the landing zone in 'blizzard conditions' and circled the landing zone, then turned north and disappeared from view. Seconds later, a deputy heard 'a slight muffled boom. . . The weather had grown steadily worse and the snow was falling very heavily.' Later, the helicopter was found where it had impacted mountainous terrain in a canyon area. Several tree tops were severed when the helicopter crashed.
Probable Cause: flight by the pilot into known adverse weather conditions, and his failure (or inability) to maintain sufficient clearance or altitude from mountainous terrain. Related factors were: darkness, heavy snow, high winds, the pilot's perception of pressure that was induced by the conditions and events, and mountainous terrain.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
NTSB FTW98FA093
History of this aircraft
Other occurrences involving this aircraft
| 28 June 1992 | N222UH | Air Methods Corporation | 0 | Scipio, UT | |
min |
| 11 January 1998 | N222UH | Air Methods Corporation | 4 | near Sandy, UT | |
w/o |
Location
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 11-Mar-2024 19:18 | ASN Update Bot | Added |
Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description
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