Aviation Accidents :: Washington DC Injury Lawyer Blog

According to the National Transportation Safety Board, the state-of-the-art emergency beacon aboard the plane carrying former Alaska Senator Ted Stevens did not go off as it should have when the tragic aviation accident happened on Monday afternoon. Rescue efforts did not begin until early that evening and survivors were forced to stay at the wreckage overnight.

The private plane, a de Havilland DHC-3 Otter , belonged to General Communications Inc., which was hosting a fishing trip for Stevens and the other passengers. The telecommunications company had registered an emergency beacon for the aircraft with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Search and Rescue Satellite Aided Tracking (SARSAT) system, but the program’s manager, Chris O’Connors, says that there is no evidence that a signal from the plane was sent to the satellites when the aircraft crashed into a mountain. The newest of the beacons are supposed to serve as emergency locator transponders that provide an accurate location of an emergency scene so that rescue efforts can start immediately.

Our Washington DC aviation accident lawyers know how tragic it is to lose someone you love in a plane crash. Although they occur less frequently than traffic crashes, aircraft accidents more often than not result in serious injuries and deaths. Aircraft malfunction, pilot error, poor weather, FAA negligence, and air traffic controller mistakes, are just some of the reasons why plane accidents happened.

In addition to Stevens, the others who died in Monday’s Alaska plane crash were GCI Senior Vice President Dana Tindall, 48, her daughter Corey, 16, former Stevens chief of staff and Washington DC lobbyist Bill Phillips, and pilot Terry Smith, 62. Those who survived the airplane crash with injuries are former NASA head Sean O’Keefe, his son Kevin, lobbyist Jim Morhard, 53, and Phillips’ son Willy, 13.

Stevens, 86, was Alaska’s US Senator for four decades. He was the Senate's longest-serving Republican.

Plane's emergency beacon failed in Alaska crash, USA Today, August 12, 2010

Bad weather delayed rescue in Alaska crash for 12 hours, CNN, August 10, 2010

Long, cold night for survivors after crash that killed Stevens, ADN, August 12, 2010

Related Web Resources:
Federal Aviation Administration

National Transportation Safety Board

Ted Stevens Dies at 86 (Obituary), New York Times, August 10, 2010

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In an attempt to improve safety and decrease the number of emergency medical hospital accidents, the National Transportation Safety Board is calling on the federal government to come up with tougher rules that emergency helicopter operators would need to abide by. Recommendations include requiring flight data recorders, night-vision systems, and autopilots on the aircrafts. The NTSB also is calling on the Health and Human Services Department to mandate that emergency helicopter operators fulfill certain safety standards before being given Medicare payments for medical flights.

Between December 2007 and October 2008, 35 people died in nine aviation accidents involving emergency medical helicopters. Since then, there have been three emergency medical accidents although, fortunately, no one has died. In the last two decades, at least 150 people have died in over 200 EMS helicopter crashes.

There has been a greater than 80% increase in the number of emergency medical helicopters in the US in the past 10 years and there are some 750 medical service helicopters in operation today. Yet these helicopters aren’t required to contain the same basic safety features that commercial planes must carry. EMS Pilots don’t have a lot of time to prepare for rescue flights and often they have to land in places that aren’t designed for aircraft landings. They may even have to avoid hitting trees, power lines, buildings, homes, and people.

The EMS aircrafts are supposed to rush accident victims and others in emergency situations to a hospital where they can get the care that they need sooner than if they were to arrive by ambulance or another motor vehicle. That’s why the number of emergency medical helicopter crashes leading to injuries and deaths has been disturbing. The aircrafts that are supposed to help save lives are in some instances causing accident injuries and deaths.

If your loved one died in an EMS accident, an airplane accident, a helicopter crash, a commercial airline crash, or another kind of accident involving an aircraft and you think that operator negligence, a defect in the design of the aircraft, or a plane malfunction caused your loved one’s death, you may have grounds for filing a Washington DC wrongful death lawsuit.

NTSB wants new rules for medical helicopters, AP, September 1, 2009

NTSB recommends training, equipment for medical helicopters; tie Medicare pay to safety, Breaking News, 24/7, September 1, 2009

NTSB Begins Hearings Into Medevac Crashes, NPR, February 3, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Medevac helicopters under scrutiny, USA Today, September 29, 2009

Medevac Helicopter Crash Kills 4 in Maryland, Fox News, September 28, 2008

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