CITATION CRASH

[carnie]

Was perusing the Toronto Star online and read a that a Citation carrying an organ transplant team has crashed in Michigan. Never nice to hear. Fly safe everyone. C

[linecrew]

Heres'a news story on the accident...

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/ ... 62354.html

==============================================
June 5, 2007, 5:22AM
Medical plane goes down in Lake Michigan


By CARRIE ANTLFINGER Associated Press Writer
© 2007 The Associated Press

MILWAUKEE — A life-saving mission was cut short when a plane carrying six members of an organ transplant team went down in Lake Michigan shortly after the pilot signaled an emergency.

Police and emergency workers searched 57-degree waters Monday to find two pilots, two surgeons and two donor specialists who went down in the Cessna Citation. There was no word on survivors.

Dr. Darrell A. Campbell, chief of staff of the University of Michigan Hospitals and Health Centers, said the thoughts of the university community were with the families of those involved.

"We take consolation in the fact that the team was on a mission to help another," he said.

Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Tony Molinaro said the plane took off from General Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee at about 4 p.m. and was headed for Willow Run airport near Detroit, a 42-minute flight.

Within five minutes of its departure from the airport, the pilot declared an emergency and requested a return to Mitchell, Molinaro said. But the plane dropped off radar screens just after the pilot made the request and the Coast Guard was contacted.

Divers searched near debris and an oil slick in about 20 feet of water, Milwaukee Fire Chief Doug Holton said.

Molinaro said aircraft debris was found about six miles northeast of Milwaukee, but no one on board has been found.

The plane was leased by the University of Michigan Health System in Ann Arbor, according to the university. It's owned by Toy Air and based at Willow Run Airport in Ypsilanti, Mich.

The university said those aboard were a team that was returning from Milwaukee with unspecified organs for transplant to a patient in Michigan.

When system officials found out about the crash, they notified the transplant team in Michigan to stop preparing the transplant candidate. The patient was in critical condition, the university said.

Jones estimated the plane was going 185 to 190 mph. He said the water temperature is 57 degrees and people could survive for 16 hours. "Our primary focus is on finding any survivors there may be from this incident," he said.

Rescuers called off the search Monday night after more than six hours and planned to return at daybreak Tuesday.

___

[Hedley]

Does anyone remember a similar bizjet/medevac accident perhaps 10 or 15 years ago, out in BC?

[Johnny]

No survivors in transplant plane crash

Jun 05, 2007 09:31 AM
CARRIE ANTLFINGER
Associated Press

MILWAUKEE – No one was believed to have survived the crash of a small plane that was carrying a six-member organ transplant team and their cargo of donor organs, authorities said Tuesday.

Searchers found human remains during a search in Lake Michigan, about six miles northeast of Milwaukee, a Coast Guard official said Tuesday.

The team's lifesaving mission – carrying unspecified organs from Milwaukee for transplant to a patient in Michigan – was cut short Monday when the Cessna Citation went down in 57-degree F water shortly after the pilot signalled an emergency.

Those on board were two surgeons and two donor specialists from the University of Michigan Health System and two pilots who regularly fly their transplant missions.

"The condition of the aircraft debris and human remains found indicate a high-speed impact," said Coast Guard Capt. Bruce Jones at a news conference. "We believe this to have been a non-survivable crash.''

Dr. Darrell A. Campbell, chief of staff of the University of Michigan Hospitals and Health Centers, said the thoughts of the university community were with the families of those involved.

"We take consolation in the fact that the team was on a mission to help another," he said.

The patient who was to have received the transplant organs was in critical condition, the university said. Jay Campbell, executive director of the Wisconsin Donor Network, declined to say which hospital the team was working with, citing privacy regulations.

The first human remains were found late Monday but hadn't been identified, Jones said. Divers stopped searching at nightfall, while crews of a Coast Guard boat and helicopter continued searching using night vision goggles

Only small parts of the plane had been found so far, Jones said.

Jones said they wouldn't speculate on the crash's cause. The National Transportation Board was expected to arrive later Tuesday.

The university identified those aboard the plane as: Dr. Martinus "Martin" Spoor, a cardiac surgeon who had been on the faculty since 2003; Dr. David Ashburn, a physician-in-training in pediatric cardiothoracic surgery; Richard Chenault II, a transplant donation specialist with the university transplant program; Richard Lapensee, a transplant donation specialist with the university transplant program; and pilots Dennis Hoyes and Bill Serra.

The plane took off from General Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee and was headed for Willow Run airport near Detroit, a 42-minute flight, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Tony Molinaro said.

Within five minutes of its takeoff, the pilot declared an emergency and requested a return to Mitchell, Molinaro said. But the plane dropped off radar screens just after the pilot made that request and the Coast Guard was contacted.

Light rain was falling at the airport with wind of 12 mph, gusting to 22 mph, according to J.J. Wood, a National Weather Service meteorologist.

The plane was leased by the University of Michigan Health System in Ann Arbor, according to the university. It's owned by Toy Air and based at Willow Run Airport in Ypsilanti, Mich.

Jones estimated the plane was going 185 to 190 mph. He said people could survive for 16 hours in 57-degree F water.

Associated Press writers David Aguilar and Jim Irwin in Detroit, and M.L. Johnson and Emily Fredrix in Milwaukee contributed to this report.

http://www.thestar.com/News/article/221665

[Snowgoose]

Does anyone remember a similar bizjet/medevac accident perhaps 10 or 15 years ago, out in BC?

Lear 35 with wrong altimeter setting? If so, yep

[nimbostratus]

What a truly sad accident. Everyone on board should have had bright futures. Not to mention the poor patient that should have had a new organ by now. Back to the wait list... I also get the feel from the article that it was for a child recipient. Doubly sad.

It definately does remind of the Lear 35 in Masset more than a decade ago. I knew both the pilots on that one, I really hate to see the same kind of thing happen again. Just a great bunch of people working their hardest, giving their lives to help others.

My thoughts go out to all the families that lost loved ones in this. I have a very good idea as to what it feels like. Godspeed.

[complexintentions]

Canada Jet Charters in CYVR. It was a tough time.


http://www.tsb.gc.ca/en/reports/air/199 ... 5p0004.asp

[Widow]

Interesting, from that TSB report:

2.7 TC Monitoring

TC monitoring of the company was not in accordance with TC policies in several respects, as follows:

• the two most recent operational audits of the company had been conducted by the company POI, although TC recognizes that, to maintain impartiality, the POI should participate in an advisory role only;
  
  
  TC had approved the company operations manual which had no reference to the required night flying training in ANO Series VII, No. 2;
  
  
  the last TC audit reports did not contain reference to any flight and duty time inspection by the audit team;
  
  
  the company's next scheduled audit was due during the month of the occurrence; there was no record of a written notice to the company that an audit had been scheduled;
  
  
  some annual mandatory specialist inspections had not been done; and,
  
  
  the POI had been line flying with the company.

[oldncold]

this is very sad for several reasons
1/ loss of life primary reason
2/loss of another possible
3/ loss of a aircraft with 2 engines and jet to boot
4/ expect more regulatory burden to be placed on pilots and the resulting paperwork which detracts from the real mission of aviate /navigate / communicate.

As an aside I met the fiancee of the lear pilot about 4 yrs after that
tragic incident . She had moved on in her life but she felt that she really had lost her life soulmate /and as for flying the bus was now the only public transit she would get on.

That is what we- I meaning- all of us have to work hard at flying right weather it be a sat trip in the circuit to a night ifr circling to mins is focus on doing our best so that the joe public /jane public see us as an asset not a liability and shut down airports and get joe politican who knows squat about real world aviation. passing more reg's to get himself elected again

tip of the day it is 30 'c and humid elevation 3000 ft gross load 0 wind
do you know your density altitude and take off performance? if not looking it up could save you live /fly safe.

[Mac]

CNN mentioned that the pilot reported runaway trim. They didn't give the source.

[wingtip]

Interesting, from that TSB report:

2.7 TC Monitoring

TC monitoring of the company was not in accordance with TC policies in several respects, as follows:

• the two most recent operational audits of the company had been conducted by the company POI, although TC recognizes that, to maintain impartiality, the POI should participate in an advisory role only;
  
  
  TC had approved the company operations manual which had no reference to the required night flying training in ANO Series VII, No. 2;
  
  
  the last TC audit reports did not contain reference to any flight and duty time inspection by the audit team;
  
  
  the company's next scheduled audit was due during the month of the occurrence; there was no record of a written notice to the company that an audit had been scheduled;
  
  
  some annual mandatory specialist inspections had not been done; and,
  
  
  the POI had been line flying with the company.

I wonder if AR was the POI..?

He and the CJC CP, (MK) were military buds and have since gone on to fly another corporate aircraft together.

Surely the old boys club would never allow for the operation to be less than perfect! Just speculation on my part of course.

[rigpiggy]

Having worked on the QCI's I can only speculate, the Altimeter setting that day was 29.17" as I remember masset's NDB approach outbound was about 750'. they impacted about 8-10 miles out without setting their altimeter thru transition this works out to around 750' difference. does anybody have the accident report that they would post?

[Lommer]

Um, complexintentions posted it just a few posts above your own...

[tesox]

CNN (brainwash studios) as summarized by RATM

"When you live in a capitalistic society, the currency of the dissemination of information goes through capitalistic channels"

In other words, dont believe everything you hear on CNN...

[pontius]

A very sad event. Condolences to the families. It doesn`t really make much difference, but it appears that one of the doctors on board the Citation, Dr. Martin Spoor, was from Calgary.

[Pratt]

Having worked on the QCI's I can only speculate, the Altimeter setting that day was 29.17" as I remember masset's NDB approach outbound was about 750'. they impacted about 8-10 miles out without setting their altimeter thru transition this works out to around 750' difference. does anybody have the accident report that they would post?

I was flying into Massett on a regular basis when the Lear went in. You are correct about the altimeter setting, apparently the Lears radar altimeter was u/s at the time and they did not change the meter setting from 29.92. They impacted the water about where procedure inbound would have been, when they would have been descending for minimums.

Sad story, the current and the past one.

[CD]

NTSB Finds Pilots At Fault In Citation Crash

By Mary Grady, Contributing editor
October 14, 2009

The NTSB met on Wednesday to discuss the results of its investigation into the crash of a Cessna Citation 550 in June 2007 and laid the blame squarely in the lap of the pilots. The jet had just taken off from Milwaukee, carrying a medical team with a human organ for transplant. Shortly after takeoff, the captain had trouble controlling the airplane, and the crew was trying to return to the airport when the jet crashed into Lake Michigan, killing all six on board. The safety board investigators said they didn't have enough information to say for sure what happened -- it might have been a runaway trim or the inadvertent engagement of the autopilot, rather than the yaw damper, at takeoff -- but in either case, the crew's failure to respond adequately was the cause of the accident. "Regardless of the initiating event, if the pilots had simply maintained a reduced airspeed while they responded to the situation, the aerodynamic forces on the airplane would not have increased significantly; at reduced airspeeds, the pilots should have been able to maintain control of the airplane long enough to either successfully troubleshoot and resolve the problem or return safely to the airport," the board said in its synopsis. The NTSB released an animation of the crash sequence.

The board said the first officer had poor flying skills and was inadequately trained, and the captain, who was also the chief pilot for the charter operator, contributed to the development of an "inadequate safety culture" at the company. The board also noted a number of contributing issues that it would like to see addressed, such as better oversight by the FAA of safety protocols at charter companies, better design for circuit breaker panels, and upset recovery training for flight crews. As an interim measure (pending an available aileron trim system retrofit), Cessna should notify Citation pilots and operators of the potential hazards related to the sensitivity and responsiveness of the airplane's aileron trim system, the board said. The board posted online the docket of documents and the PowerPoint presentations used in Wednesday's meeting.

A lawyer for the first officer's widow told the Detroit Free Press that it wasn't reasonable to think the pilots could have recovered from the situation at such a low altitude. Marlin Air, the charter operator, did not immediately respond to the Free Press's request for comment. The University of Michigan, which had chartered the aircraft, said in a statement: "We hope that this review will help prevent such incidents around the country so that no other medical institution, and no other families, will have to face such a loss."

[CD]

Michigan Pilot's Family Rejects Federal Findings in 2007 Crash

October 19, 2009

The wife of the pilot of a 2007 medical flight that crashed into Lake Michigan, killing all six aboard, said that the family has rejected the National Transportation Safety Board's findings on the crash and will launch its own investigation.

The NTSB last week said Capt. Bill Serra, who was flying the twin-engine Cessna from Milwaukee to Michigan, mishandled an unusual flight situation and was unable to properly coordinate with his first officer.

But Debbie Serra told The Associated Press that the family believes mechanical and design problems caused the crash, and that the NTSB was searching for scapegoats.

"It's not ended. The NTSB has just finished their investigation. Our's begins now,'' said Serra, of Macomb Township, about 25 miles northeast of Detroit.

She said the family has retained an attorney and will seek to question some of the same people interviewed by the NTSB.

Serra and her family earlier had released a statement outlining its position on the federal probe. The statement was first provided to The Detroit News.

Keith Holloway, an NTSB spokesman, said the board had no comment on the family's statement but stood by its findings.

A four-member medical crew affiliated with the University of Michigan was on board, as well as human organs for transplant.

Bill Serra was a pilot for more than 30 years and earned the respect of passengers and other pilots, his widow said.

"I just can't believe they speak so badly about these pilots,'' Debbie Serra said.

She said allegations that her husband did something wrong were not backed up by sworn testimony, and that favorable statements about him from other company pilots were not presented at this week's hearing.

Besides faulting Serra and first officer Dennis Hoyes, the NTSB said that a culture of lax security by flight operator Marlin Air contributed to the crash. The board also cited the failure of the Federal Aviation Administration to detect and correct deficiencies of the company.

A telephone listing for Marlin Air's offices in Michigan wasn't working Friday.

The safety board cited the checkered history of Serra, and faulted Marlin Air for not being aware that in two separate incidents, Serra's pilot's license was temporarily revoked. He had been convicted of using a plane to smuggle drugs into the United States.

In response, the pilot's family noted the NTSB was aware Serra was allowed to re-earn his pilot's license.

"Capt. Serra's legal troubles occurred almost 30 years ago and were the tragic result of being in the wrong place at the wrong time,'' the family's statement said. "He chose not to mount an aggressive defense after his wife and children received specific death threats related to his cooperation with the prosecution.''

Full article here...

[jjj]

When Canada Jet closed the doors it was a garbage company with garbage leadership.

At the time of the crash it was even worse.

When I joined CJC in 1998 (after the Lear crash in Masset) the first thing I noticed was the set of SOPs that sat on a shelf and no one used. On the line there was about 10 sets of SOPs, one for each Captain. Snags were written on pieces of paper and put under the door of the AME office. This was a time after much had been cleaned up after the crash and all under the nose of the Transport Canada inspector.

This same inspector often offered his business card and told us to call him if there was ever a problem.

The pilots went to this inspector when things got bad again such as CARS duty violations and Ops managers threatening to fire pilot's who stood up for themselves.

The inspector did nothing.

Thank god that CJC never lost another hull.

[Cat Driver]

This same inspector often offered his business card and told us to call him if there was ever a problem.

The pilots went to this inspector when things got bad again such as CARS duty violations and Ops managers threatening to fire pilot's who stood up for themselves.

The inspector did nothing.

Fast forward to today, would SMS change the above issues and result in a safer operation if that company were still operating?

[jjj]

I think SMS would have helped.
Rather than having pilots take turns being told by the boss to get stuffed for raising concerns - you would have a growing database of problems being swept under the rug that would be difficult to ignore.

This same database would be a lovely thing for the media to run with or use to defend yourself in a wrongful dismissal suit.

CJC could not have survived under SMS with the existing ops manager and chief pilot they had at the time they closed shop.

[Cat Driver]

you would have a growing database of problems being swept under the rug that would be difficult to ignore.

Assuming the database was not tampered with or adjusted to cover the operation on paper.

Do the people who file these safety concerns get to keep a copy of the original and have it signed as accepted by the company?

So if it is changed you have the original?

[SeptRepair]

The company that I was at will be having a system where you submit the original but keep a carbon copy for yourself. Exactly for the reason being explored here.

[Cat Driver]

The company that I was at will be having a system where you submit the original but keep a carbon copy for yourself. Exactly for the reason being explored here.

Excellent, do they have the original signed before the copies are separated?

[oldncold]

That crash has recently come back to life in a usa today newspaper article
it seems the captain pilot flying was a convicted drug .. what that has to do with that flight is unknown, the thread of it was the lack of faa oversight into charter ops.

according to the article the p.o.i. involved with that company, stated that "he had 16comapnies to look after and his workload was very busy".


sound familiar?