The pilot had been home about two hours when the telephone rang around midnight on May 16, 2011. It was the chief pilot, asking if he could conduct an emergency medical services (EMS) flight. Although the pilot had been on duty for 10 hours earlier that day, he accepted the assignment, which entailed a short flight from the operator’s home base in Barrow, at the northern tip of Alaska, to Atqasuk, an Eskimo village about 50 nm (93 km) southwest, where two medical crewmembers were to assess the condition of a patient. Depending on the results, the crew either would return to Barrow or transport the patient to Anchorage, in southern Alaska, for further diagnosis and treatment.
The lead medical crewmember told the pilot that, based on information that the 77-year-old patient had fallen several times and was experiencing weakness in her left arm, it was likely that she had suffered a stroke. She estimated a 90 percent probability that the patient would have to be flown to Anchorage.
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