A glass cockpit Bell 407 — flown by an 11,415-hour pilot who had limited experience with the 407’s advanced instrument display system and little recent night flying time — crashed near McFarland, California, U.S., during an attempted course reversal after encountering reduced visibility, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) says.1
The emergency medical services (EMS) pilot was killed in the crash, at 1903 local time on Dec. 10, 2015, along with the patient, flight nurse and flight paramedic, and the helicopter was destroyed.
In its final report on the accident, the NTSB said the probable cause was the pilot’s loss of control while trying to reverse course after entering an area of reduced visibility. A contributing factor was his lack of recent experience with nighttime operations.
The SkyLife helicopter was dispatched from Visalia, California, and flew to Porterville Municipal Airport to pick up a patient for transport to a…
