FlightAware member C421 Medivac down in Texas . . .

FAA has reported a Cessna 421B down in Texas while operating a Medivac flight. Aircraft is reported as registered to O’hara Flying Service II LP.

The five persons on board have been fatally injured. The Cessna 421B aircraft took off from Alpine-Casparis Municipal Airport in Alpine, a city in Brewster County, and was en-route to Midland International Airport in Midland County when it crashed at approximately 12.18 a.m. EDT, shortly after take-off.

A female patient and her husband were on board the plane when it crashed on Sunday, as well as two medical crew members and a pilot.

They operate two C421B’s, N19CH which has several recent flights listed on FlightAware, and N60HG which shows no activity over the last four months.


photo by Micheal Gatlin (FlightAware Member) and associated wiith O’hara Flying Service.

That’s sad. . . :frowning:

I wonder if they leased or borrowed the crashed 421…you can clearly see from the pictures of it the tail number starts with 3 and ends with S. Can’t make out the middle part, the vert stab is crunched…I’ve always liked the Cessna 400 series planes, they are a joy to fly but some have had nasty spar problems. Sorry to hear about this accident.

Edit to add here’s a link showing it and also it seems from later info the pilot was making an emergency landing but apparently the nose went down into a ditch and flipped them upside down. That very thing happened to me many years ago in a 182 but it didn’t catch fire. It did total the plane but nobody was injured.
ketknbc.com/news/update-five … lane-crash


N31AS Cessna 421B photo by jaywisch

When I looked it up yesterday, I looked up O’hara, today I looked up Ohara and found several more aircraft, N31AS registered to Ohara Fying Service II LP.

flightaware.com/live/flight/N31A … Z/KODO/E38

Oh, that’s it then…I didn’t think to try looking up the name without the apostrophe. Good job.

I was a medevac pilot for 4 years in South Africa in the 90s. We had a dedicated fully equipped BE90 (the first dedicated medevac plane in S.A.). I remember doing many hair raising flights, 24/24 all weather conditions, which increases the risk factor. I guess we will find out what went wrong when the report comes out, but one point I wish to make is that sometimes it is not really necessary to fly a patient from A to B, but they opt for it anyway. The same point has been raised due to the numerous medevac helicopter accidents that have taken place. Not sure what the medical circumstances were in this case, but doctors should be aware of the risks of calling for medevac when it is not absolutely necessary. RIP and condolences to their families.

I was unaware that Doctors were responsible for calling out airmed service. Somehow I thought it was the First Responders calling in the support. Makes sense though.

Can be first responders if it is at a disaster scene, usually medical staff if it is a hospital to hospital transfer.
Regards.
Ralph

99% of all medavac flight that are fixed wing happen after the patient has been stabilized. No Nurse/Medic/Doctor, will except responsibility for an unstable patient.
The rotor-wing guys are the first responders.

Doctors don’t have the patients moved- insurance companies do. Follow the money…

aren’t first responders under the control of/get advice from doctors?

Not at all

In Berks County PA where I run with a rescue company, any firefighter may place a helo on standby, then any First Responder/EMT/EMT-P (Paramedic) may have the helo fly. There are protocols in place to determine whether a flight is necessary. These include severity of injuries, mechanism of injury, etc. Aeromedical has the right to refuse due to weather of course and that does happen. The Reading Hospital became a Level II Trauma Canter a few years back, so all trauma patients within 15 minutes ( I think) of their facility go by ground except for pediatric trauma or burns. This may not be the case in other areas, my area is under the jurisdiction of the Eastern PA Regional EMS Council, which sets the EMS protocols under the authority of the PA Dept of Health.