CLICK HERE FAA registry
CLICK HERE News story from ABC channel 4.
The single pilot King Air operations in high pressure flights like Medical lifts make me feel uncomfortable. There is so much money in this medical field that to save dollars by keeping a copilot out is a pure travesty. I would like to see statistics of King Air mishaps comparing single and two pilot operations. As far as I am concerned, King Air has the longest checklist of all airplanes I ever flew. It’s a book!
Any thoughts?
I’d fly for free as co-pilot on just about any King Air or turbine aircraft.
I’ve never thought that a King Air checklist was anymore detailed than any other turbine airplane I’ve flown… I flew an A100, C90’s and B200’s for a number of years…They are straight forward and very SP managable airplanes. Yes med flights can be more challenging because of the sense of urgency, but a second pilot wouldn’t have necessarily made a difference here…
Looking at the serial number of the accident airplane, it’s 87 C90 airframes newer than the two sister C90B’s that I flew. That being said, it had EFIS, GPS, TAWS…good situational awareness equipment…Hopefully the CVR will provide some answers…
Becareful you’ll start a whole new thread about pilot pay if you say that too loud 
ALAMOSA, Colo. – Rescuers recovered the bodies of three people who died when their medical plane slammed into a mountainside at about 11,800 feet near the Continental Divide.
Rescuers used ATVs and hiked up rough, mountainous terrain in a remote part of Archuleta County as a wave of thunderstorms pounded the area, Undersheriff John Weiss said Saturday.
All three bodies were recovered late Friday, but members of the sheriff’s rescue team were making the six hour trip from the site early Saturday afternoon.
Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board were expected at the site on Monday, Weiss said.
The Eagle Air Med Inc. twin-engine Beech King Air C-90A with a crew of three was on its way to Alamosa to pick up a patient for transport to Colorado Springs when it disappeared from radar late Thursday.
The company identified the crew as pilot Ric Miller, flight paramedic Dana Dedman and flight nurse Ronnie Helton.
“Our most humble and sincere condolences and regret go out to the families in mourning. Our hearts are broken, we have lost friends, co-workers and part of our family, a family that is now pulling together to get through this difficult time,” vice president Jim Hunt said in a statement late Friday.
The plane took off from Chinle, Ariz., said Dustin Duncan, and it appeared to be on descent when it crashed into the mountainside. There wasn’t any sign that the crew had been attempting an emergency landing in mountainous terrain just west of the Continental Divide near 11,677-foot high Charleys Peak, which is about 35 miles southwest of Alamosa.
“It went full speed into the side of the mountain,” Weiss said, adding that rescuers reported finding a wide debris field.
Flight controllers lost radio and radar contact with the plane at around 11:20 p.m. Thursday, said Mike Fergus, a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman.
Duncan said the company has a plane based out of Alamosa – about 160 miles southwest of Denver – but that the company’s Chinle-based plane was en route to pick up a patient because the other plane was on a call.
Despite the risk of air medical transport, Duncan said such companies provide a valuable service in the West by getting patients from rural areas to urban trauma centers in the critical minutes after accidents and emergencies.
“Lives are saved everyday by crews similar to those involved in this mishap today,” he said.
Azav8r wrote:
Yes med flights can be more challenging because of the sense of urgency, but a second pilot wouldn’t have necessarily made a difference here…
This statement is pretty cocky. A second pilot is always a help, unless you are one of those pilots who hates witnesses of their shortcomings. But I guess you seem to be always right.
You ask for “Any thoughts” and then you berate me for mine? If you’re really not interested in someone else’s opinion…don’t ask for it. And when you do ask at least have the courtesy of being respectful in your counterpoint.
And there’s nothing “cocky” about my statement! Alot of airplanes are flown single pilot everyday very safely. I’m not saying that a two pilot crew isn’t safer…but two pilots can run into a mountain as can a single pilot. It happened several years ago to a med flight crew departing San Diego flying a Lear Jet. If you are the professional that I’m giving you credit for…I would think that you would understand that.
Being the professional that I am…I am by no means a ‘super pilot’. And as I hold myself to very high standards I am well aware that I have “shortcomings”, and I am not afraid of them.
CLICK HERE for complete NTSB report of Lear 35A N30DK ‘Controlled Flight into Terrain’ crash on October 23 2004 after departing Brown Field in San Diego.
A very unfortunate accident indeed. A second pilot is certainly helpful, and usually makes more sense finacially when compared to increased insurance rates for a single pilot operation. Another factor to consider on the C90B is the payload available. If you have 2 medical personnel, a stretcher/life support setup, medical equipment, and a patient, you are already limited to less than full fuel. Just my $.02.
Azav8r wrote:
Being the professional that I am…I am by no means a ‘super pilot’. And as I hold myself to very high standards I am well aware that I have “shortcomings”, and I am not afraid of them.
Yes you are. You seem to be a very angry man. Like I say, you are always right.
Wow…How presumptuous and judgemental…and I’m the angry person? 
Westwardair was “right”…
Avav8r, you proved your point. If I had to choose between a Single pilot operation or having you sitting in as my copilot, I would definitely decide -in the name of safety- to fly alone. 
You’ve completely missed the “point”. And apparently you don’t care for me very much…and I’m okay with that
Azav8r’s become the whipping boy recently. Sheesh.
And I’m such a lovable guy…no really…
at the risk of being the next whipping boy…I just wanna know what happened to TAWS or EGPWS on this aircraft. Hell, I have the EGPWS on even in the flat lands of Oklahoma and Kansas in our aircraft.
Chris
How sad I see that plane and other company planes at my airport all the time. They frequent KPUB quite often. Tragic.
Naw, how are we to believe that. 
By…the warm responses I get from my posts… 