Hope this is not one of our own. (Summit County Flight For Life Crashes, Killing Pilot)

[Gman]

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news...lot-in-vietnam

FRISCO, Colo. - Patrick Mahany was a respected veteran chopper pilot.

The 64-year-old Mahany was a decorated U.S. Army helicopter pilot in Vietnam and he had flown for Flight for Life for 27 years.

Yet Mahany's remarkable flying career came to a tragic end Friday afternoon, when the Flight for Life helicopter he was piloting went down in a fiery crash in Frisco. He was killed and two colleagues -- the flight paramedic and nurse -- were injured. There was no patient onboard.

[cmailliard]

I can't find out where the chopper was based, does anyone know?

Flight for Life has 5 Rotor Wing Aircraft and 2 Fixed Wing Aircraft
Lifeguard 1 - Denver (St. Anthony Hospital)
Lifeguard 2 - Summit County (Summit County Medical Center) This is the aircraft that crashed
Lifeguard 3 - Colorado Springs (Penrose)
Lifeguard 4 - Pueblo (St. Mary Corwin)
Lifeguard 5 - Durango (Mercy)

All 4 Helicopters and both Airplanes are currently Out Of Service

[Ah Pook]

Sad news.

[mtnhigh]

Very sad news.

[RCCrawler]

Very sad story.

All 4 Helicopters and both Airplanes are currently Out Of Service

Why pull them all out of service? I wonder how many lives they save everyday?

[cmailliard]

Very sad story.


Why pull them all out of service? I wonder how many lives they save everyday?

May be the SOP until the FAA and other investigators determine the cause. Centura, Air Methods, or FFL themselves could have ordered them grounded. If there is a problem with maintenance, a part, or a training issue they do not want the same thing to happen again. But I am mostly just SWAGing as to why.

[J]

May be the SOP until the FAA and other investigators determine the cause. Centura, Air Methods, or FFL themselves could have ordered them grounded. If there is a problem with maintenance, a part, or a training issue they do not want the same thing to happen again. But I am mostly just SWAGing as to why.

Likely one of those is the case. I was driving through that area not 15 minutes before this happened on my way to Grand Junction for the weekend. There were no significant meteorological conditions that would have been a primary contributor to the crash. I'd put good odds the NTSB comes out with either Mx or Pilot error.