KENTUCKY AEROMEDICAL TEAM - Non-injury incident

DATE		12/21/03 2150 

PROGRAM		KENTUCKY AEROMEDICAL TEAM

VENDOR		MED TRANS

ADDRESS
		3120 WALL ST
STE 350
LEXINGTON, KY


WEATHER		Clear. Not a factor

AIRCRAFT_TYPE	BELL 407

TAIL#		508MT

TEAM		NURSE, MEDIC, PILOT. No injuries reported. No
patient. 

DESCRIPTION	Helicopter landing at scene flight.  Circled scene
		three times.  Large landing zone size of football
		field with obstacles noted around all sides which
		included trees and wires.  Snow covering ground. 
		Ground EMS did not report any obstacles in area. 
		Helicopter on approach noted obstacles on
		approach and decided to recircle LZ again and
		start another approach.  Steeper approach made to
		avoid obstacles on outside on LZ.  Snow blowing
		as landing.  As the A/C was landing pilot felt
		the tail hit something and the loss of tail rotor
		control.  Pilot in full control of aircraft
		immediately set aircraft down.  Medical crew
		unaware tail rotor had hit something until they
		got out of helicopter on scene.  Local EMS also
		unaware of tail rotor strike until informed. 
		Significant tail rotor damage noted.  Obstacle
		was a gray electrical box on small pole covered
		by snow.  Flight crew transported patient via
		ground to nearest facility.

SOURCE		Jill Johnson Kentucky Aeromed,

VIA		Roseanne Krantz, CONCERN
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The CONCERN network shares verified information to alert medical
transport programs when an accident / incident has occurred.
Please share the above information with your program staff. If
you have further questions, please contact the CONCERN Coordinator,
Roseann Krantz @ 1-800-75-SHOCK or rjkrantz@aol.com.