Texting contributed to fatal crash of medical helicopter, NTSB says

[cali]

The pilot of a medical helicopter that crashed in Missouri in 2011 had been texting, and that was a contributing factor to the disaster that killed four people, federal investigators said.

The case is the first fatal commercial aircraft accident involving texting. But the texts, some from the pilot to a female friend, were just one problem.

The five-member National Transportation Safety Board on Tuesday unanimously agreed on Tuesday that the crash was caused by a tired pilot who skipped preflight safety checks that would have revealed the helicopter was low on fuel. After discovering the fuel problem, the pilot decided to continue on the last leg of the flight anyway even though the correct procedure would have been to abort the flight and wait for fuel to be sent, investigators said.

“The nation's helicopter emergency medical services perform important work transporting hundreds of patients and organs every day. We all share the same goal: to ensure that lives are saved -- not lost -- in these vital lifesaving operations,” NTSB Chairman Deborah Hersman said.

<snip>

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-texting-helicopter-crash-20130409,0,6239695.story

[louis-t]

1. Wait, sounds like running out of gas was the main contributing factor

not texting. Jeez, what a mis-leading title. If he had not been texting would he have had more gas? Or decided to wait to fill up?

[hobbit709]

2. When doing a preflight check your mind shouldn't be on anything else but that.

When you fuck up in the air, Sir Isaac is ALWAYS waiting.

[louis-t]

3. It didn't say he was texting while doing pre-flight check.

I assumed they meant he was doing it while flying. And, it said even after he realized he was low on fuel, he chose to continue instead of waiting for fuel to arrive. Sounds like texting had very little to do with the accident. And I HATE texting!

[hobbit709]

4. This part

the crash was caused by a tired pilot who skipped preflight safety checks that would have revealed the helicopter was low on fuel. After discovering the fuel problem, the pilot decided to continue on the last leg of the flight anyway even though the correct procedure would have been to abort the flight and wait for fuel to be sent, investigators said.

It didn't matter if he was texting or not, you do NOT skip the preflight for any reason.
If he was busy texting instead of flying when the engine quit that could have cost a few precious he might have needed to possibly autorotate.

[Grammy23]

6. I read another article about this unfortunate accident....and the texting is tied in

because the pilot was texting prior to the accident (not immediately before it, however) and they believe it distracted him from noting how very low his fuel was. He also missed the fact that his dashboard lighting was still set to dim from the previous night's practice. He evidently skipped the preflight check because if he had done that he would have known it was still on the night time setting. Therefore it was not as noticeable to him when he got the warning that his fuel was low. Texting was not being done in the moments prior to the accident but played a role in that it distracted him from doing what he should have done before he took off.

I hate texting while driving or anything else that requires your full attention. We are told we CAN do two things at once which is only partially true. Research shows (and we have things like this happen every day) that prove that while you can do two things at the same time, BOTH things suffer in quality. We can keep on deluding ourselves that we are smart enough to text and drive (fly) but the evidence is piling up .... literally and figuratively....that we can't do it safely.

[backscatter712]

5. Obviously, the pilot wasn't paying attention.

He'd screwed up his pre-flight checks, possibly because he was texting when he should have been checking the fuel gauge.

[Major Nikon]

7. Sounds like the NTSB agreed

http://www.ntsb.gov/news/events/2013/mosby_mo/index.html