Carilion Clinic Life-Guard - Non-injury incident

Date: October 18, 2008 1036 AM 

Program: Carilion Clinic Life-Guard
	431 McClanahan
	Roanoke VA 24014

Type: EC 135
Tail #: N135ED
Operator/Vendor: Air Methods

Weather: Clear. Not a factor

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

Description: 
	The aircraft was en route to a Public Relations event in Dublin,
	Virginia from their primary base at Carilion New River Valley Medical
	Center in Christiansburg, VA when caution lights indicated FADEC
	failure. The pilot decided to return to the base with a 2 minute ETE
	at that time. While on final, and while monitoring the torque on the
	engines, the pilot decided instead to land at the local airport (KPSK)
	in the event that an engine would over torque, requiring a run on
	landing. The airport had a 5 minute ETE at that time. The
	Communications Center and airport were notified at that time. An
	uneventful precautionary landing was completed without incident. 
	
	A Radford, VA Carilion Clinic Patient Transportation ground ambulance
	was sent to the airport in the event that the crew would need
	transport back to their primary base. The on duty mechanic assessed
	the situation and followed recommendations from the Eurocopter Tech
	Reps. When the NG sensors were cleaned and swapped from engine to
	engine, the issues resolved and the aircraft relocated to their
	primary base without further issues. 
	
	

Additional Info: 
	The only previous flight that day was a relocation from the lower pad
	to the upper pad. No issues were noted at that time. The mechanic had
	been in earlier that day for his routine maintenance and no issues
	were noted. This was the pilots first week as PIC with the program on
	this aircraft. 
	
	A debriefing with the medical crew and administration, along with Air
	Methods pilot representatives has since been completed. The
	Communications Spec and Flight Crew agreed that the recently edited
	PAIP process was much more streamlined as compared to previous PAIP's.
	These changes were made in response to a precautionary landing on
	9.24.08. One additional area of opportunity was noted to be in quicker
	notification of the Air Methods Operational Control Center.
	
	

Source: Susan Smith, Program Director, Carilion Clinic Life-Guard

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