I thought some of you might be interested in the details of the crash last 
sunday night of a med-evac helicopter that killed 4 persons. Killed was the 
very experienced pilot, 2 flight nurses and the patient. Landing and loading 
of the injured man were normal but on the take-off, instead of doing a 180 
degree departure from the landing, for some reason the pilot climbed out to 
the west tgoward a gold course. The helicopter (Bell 407) impacted 2 inch 
diameter 230Kv power transmission lines. The wreckage which did not burn 
looked like the whole power unit (engines, transmissison and rotor head) were 
torn off the top of the cabin. Post-crash investigation showed that the 
engines were operating normally and that there were no other mechanical 
problems. One curious fact: the curtain closing off the cabin lights from the 
coskpit that would have normally been closed for a night take-off were open. 
Could this have distracted the pilot? This flight was to the csene of a 
head-on collision between one car with people who had spent several hours in 
a sports bar and a family returning from a performanceof the "Nutcracker." 
The patient on board the chopper was the driver who had been in the bar. HE 
crossed the median into oncoming traffic at high speed. Damn shame.
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