Bayflite crash report notes pilot error;Tampa,FL

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Bayflite crash report notes pilot error: From The Tampa Tribune

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May 23, 2001

Bayflite crash report notes pilot error

ROB SHAW

of The Tampa Tribune

Pilot error likely will be blamed for the Bayflite 3 crash last year

that killed three medical rescue workers.

The National Transportation Safety Board's report has one phrase

that pins the cause of the April 25, 2000, crash on veteran pilot Mark Wallace:

``the pilot's failure to maintain clearance that resulted in the in-flight

collision with the tower.''

Officials in Washington, D.C., have to sign off on the ruling before

the report is made final.

Wallace, who at 39 years old had logged 4,367 flight hours, was at

the controls of the Eurocopter BK117 as it traveled from Bayfront Medical Center

in St. sburg to St. ph's Hospital in Tampa. On a clear day with

visibility of 10 miles, it flew into a 649-foot radio tower near Weedon Island

and plummeted to the ground.

Wallace, paramedic Hangartner, 29, and nurse

Betita-, 51, died. The crash devastated local emergency rescue workers as

they had to bury three of their own who had helped save countless lives.

The three-member crew had just done that, dropping off a patient at

Bayfront before starting to return to its base in Tampa. The helicopter was

flying a new route after neighbors in Snell Isle had complained about noise.

The NTSB report said no hazard map of obstructions such as the tower

was available to the pilot; it added that was not a requirement of Rocky

Mountain Helicopters, which owned the aircraft.

``The station manager reported that hazards and minimum operating

altitudes were stressed at safety meetings but flight operation decisions for

each flight were always left to the discretion of the pilot in command,'' the

report added.

The radio tower was built in 1977 near 94th Avenue and San

Boulevard. Wallace had been a pilot in the area for 15 years and was familiar

with local obstructions, the NTSB said. The impact with the guy wires and tower

appeared to be at the 480-foot mark, the report said.

Officials with Bayfront Medical Center and Rocky Mountain

Helicopters declined to comment until they had seen the final report.

Both companies said Tuesday that they thought the NTSB only released

a factual report, the second step in the agency's investiga tive process. They

said they were waiting for a conclusion of the accident's cause.

``We can't really comment until we see the final report and what it

says, so we can have a chance to have our people review it and look at it,''

said Bill Hervey, a spokesman for Bayfront Medical Center.

Rob Shaw can be reached at or rshaw@...

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