LifeFlight of Maine - Non-injury incident

Date: 8/5/06 2355 EDT

Program: LifeFlight of Maine
	402 State St., Kagan-4
	Bangor, ME  04401

Type: A109E
Tail #: N901EM
Operator/Vendor: Keystone Helicopters

Weather: Clear. Not a factor

Team: Pilot, Flight Nurse, Flight Medic. No injuries reported. No patient. 

Description: 
	At approximately 22:56 crew was notified of a possible scene request
	on a dirt logging road in a remote forested area. Actual flight
	request was received at 23:31. Night VFR conditions prevailed with
	little to no ambient or artificial light available. The pilot was
	unable to initialize either GPS. Ground units also relayed incorrect
	GPS information. The crew proceeded enroute with a heading and
	distance provided by dispatch. 
	
	When the aircraft arrived over the scene, there was an unusually
	large amount of radio traffic with conflicting LZ information from
	multiple ground sources. After a recon of the landing area the pilot
	elected to land in a secondary LZ away from the majority of personnel
	and ground vehicles. During descent and landing, severe brown-out
	conditions were encountered. 
	
	As the aircraft neared the ground the pilot heard a scraping noise
	and realized that the landing gear was not lowered. The aircraft was
	immediately lifted to a high hover and gear lowered.

Additional Info: 
	The aircraft sustained minimal damage to two antennas and slightly
	damaged a search light. Post flight debrief revealed that numerous
	distractions led to a breakdown of habit patterns that caused a
	?seamless? transition from the enroute to landing phase without the
	necessary steps being performed.
	
	Additional training needs have been identified and program is
	conducting an updated Ground Safety Course with the requesting
	agencies. 

Source: Tom Judge, Exec. Director LifeFlight of Maine