Medical Airlift crash due to Texting While Flying

[DrLeftover]

The pilot of an emergency medical helicopter flying over Missouri was sending and receiving text messages before a 2011 crash, the first time such distractions have been implicated in a fatal commercial aviation accident.



The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, which meets today to assign a cause for the accident that killed four people including a patient, documented seven texts sent and received by the pilot, according to agency records.



The Air Methods Corp. (AIRM) helicopter crashed in a field after running out of fuel, according to preliminary NTSB reports. Use of electronic devices by pilots during flight was prohibited by company rules, according to the reports.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-...-linked-to-commercial-crash-in-u-s-first.html

 

[Jazzy]

If you read the article carefully, the crash wasn't due to him texting. The helicopter crashed because it was out of fuel:

Freudenbert, 34, who told the coworker he hadn’t slept well the night before, failed to refuel the helicopter before flying to a hospital in Bethany, Missouri, to pick up Tacorente, according to NTSB records.

He realized his mistake after landing at the hospital and discussed where to get more fuel with a company dispatcher. He was headed to Midwest National Air Center Airport in Mosby when the helicopter went down.

 

[DrLeftover]

I saw that.



Moral of the story is: he shouldn't have been flying, period.