Crash report cites ice buildup

  An air-ambulance wreck killed the pilot, two flight nurses on Jan. 11 in Rawlins, Wyo. Some parts of the plane were found coated with ice, but investigators did not list a probable cause for the crash.

The air ambulance that crashed while attempting to land in Rawlins, Wyo., on Jan. 11 had up to 1 1/2 inches of clear ice coating de-icing boots on the front of both wings, according to a National Transportation Safety Board report.

The accident killed pilot Tim Benway and two flight nurses. The plane's fourth occupant, a flight paramedic, was severely injured.

The Yampa Valley Air Ambulance flight, operated by Mountain Flight Service Inc.,

 originated in Steamboat Springs and was heading to Rawlins to pick up a patient for a flight to Casper.

The NTSB report does not list a probable cause of the accident but says investigators who examined the wreckage found coatings of clear ice on a propeller blade and the leading-edge surface of the vertical stabilizer, or tail, as well as the leading edges of the wings.

A buildup of ice on airplane surfaces can affect a pilot's ability to control a plane. De-icing boots are designed to shed ice by using air bled from the engines to expand the rubber boot and push off the ice.

The NTSB report makes no mention of whether the de-icing boots were operating properly during the flight but said that after the wreckage was removed to a hangar in Greeley, the boots worked normally during a test.

The report said that before the flight departed Steamboat, Benway got a

briefing about weather conditions in the Rawlins area and was told there was "light to moderate snow shower activity."
According to the NTSB report, "The briefer said, 'Mountain terrain obscuration, icing and turbulence.' The conversation ended after the pilot responded, 'All of that fun stuff."'

The twin-engine Beech E-90 King Air turboprop crashed at 9:45 p.m. just below the crest of a 7,269-foot ridge about 2.5 miles northeast of the Rawlins airport while the plane was on its final approach to runway 22, the accident report said.

The accident also killed air-ambulance director and flight nurse Dave Linner, 36, and nurse Jennifer Wells, 30. It took rescuers about four hours to find the wreckage and the lone survivor of the crash, paramedic Tim Baldwin, 35. Baldwin suffered head injuries and numerous broken bones and spent about two weeks in the hospital.
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Airplane crash blamed on ice

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo.(AP) - Federal investigators say more than an inch of ice was on the wings of an air ambulance plane that crashed earlier this year in southern Wyoming, killing three people.

The report issued by the National Transportation Safety Board does not name a probable cause for the Jan. 11 crash near Rawlins, Wyo. But it said the ice covered de-icing boots on both wings, and was also found on a propeller and a tire.

De-icing boots inflate to crack ice on wings. They operated normally during a test in a Greeley hangar, where the wreckage was taken after the crash, the NTSB said.

The Yampa Valley Air Ambulance, a twin-engine Beech E-90 King Air operated by Mountain Flight Service, was en route from Steamboat Springs for Rawlins to pick up a patient going to Casper, Wyo. It crashed near the Rawlins airport, killing pilot Tim Benway and flight nurses Dave Linner and Jennifer Wells. Emergency medical technician Tim Baldwin was badly injured.

The NTSB said there did not appear to be problems before the crash with the plane's electrical, fuel and other systems. Both engines were producing power at the time of the crash.
The Accident

Three of four members of a Yampa Valley Air Ambulance crew died late Tuesday night (11 Jan 05) when the plane crashed near Rawlins, Wyo., Yampa Valley Medical Center officials reported.

The plane, a 1978 Beech E-90 King Air turbo prop operated by Mountain Flight Service of Steamboat Springs, carried a pilot and three Yampa Valley Medical Center employees.

Emergency Medical Technician Tim Baldwin, 35, the sole survivor when a Colorado air ambulance crashed near here, spent an hour and a half giving directions to his rescuers via cell phone, then waited 2 1/2 hours after his cell phone battery died before he was rescued.

Baldwin, 35, of Steamboat Springs, Colo., remained hospitalized in critical condition Wednesday, the day after his plane

 went down in snowy conditions. Although the plane crashed just 3 1/2 miles northeast of the airport, rescuers didn't reach the plane for four hours because of the weather and terrain.

Three others on board died in the crash: pilot Timothy Benway, 35, of Georgetown, Colo.; medic David Linner, 36, of Steamboat Springs; and medic Jennifer Wells, 30, of Kersey, Colo. They were on their way to Rawlins to pick up a victim of a vehicle crash for transport to Wyoming Medical Center in Casper.

The plane was en route to Rawlins, about 150 miles north of Steamboat, to transport a patient from Carbon County Hospital to Wyoming Medical Center in Casper when it went down around 9:40 p.m., Carbon County Sheriff Jerry Colson said. An ambulance crew waiting on the ground in Rawlins to load the patient, who had been injured in a car accident, reported the plane as overdue around 10:05 p.m.

Around the same time, Baldwin used a cell phone to notify emergency personnel that the plane had crashed.

Emergency officials mobilized to find the plane, but were faced with searching in heavy snow in wide-open sagebrush-covered terrain punctuated by draws and ridges. Their only clues to the plane's location were radar tracking of its flight course and the words of the person on the cell phone, who said he could hear a train whistle and sirens, according to the Rawlins Daily Times newspaper.

Agencies from all over the region were called in to assist with the search and rescue, including the Rawlins and Sinclair police departments; Rawlins Search and Rescue, the Carbon County, Rawlins, Hanna and Sinclair fire departments; the Bureau of Land Management, the Wyoming Highway Patrol; Rawlins Ambulance, Emergency Management, civilian volunteers, Red Cross and France Flying Service, according to a press release from the Carbon County Sheriff's Office.

More than a dozen people on four-wheelers were dispatched to search a grid pattern in hopes of finding the plane. Crews also used two mobile receivers to find signals from the plane's Emergency Locator Transmitter, which ultimately lead them to the crash site just before 2 a.m. The plane was found on the opposite side of Shark Tooth Ridge from the Rawlins Municipal Airport, about 3 1/2 miles northeast of the runway, according to the newspaper.

The location of the crash indicated that Benway, who reportedly was attempting to make an instrument landing, was on the correct flight path, but for unknown reasons went down too soon, according to the Daily Times.

"All of us at Yampa Valley Medical Center are deeply saddened and shocked at this tragic loss," said Karl Gills, CEO of Yampa Valley Medical Center. "All of those aboard are committed to providing extraordinary care to their sick and injured patients. Our entire organization and those who worked with the air ambulance program have been impacted."

Yampa Valley Medical Center provides the medical personnel for the air ambulance flights. Mountain Flight Service, owned and operated by Bob and Cindy Maddox, is contracted to operate the air ambulance. Mountain Flight Service is based at Steamboat Springs Airport--Bob Adams Field.

Bob Maddox said Benway had been with Mountain Flight Service for two years and had extensive flying experience with aircraft similar to the air ambulance.

Linner had been a flight nurse with the air ambulance since September 2001 and had directed the service since the spring of 2003. Wells had worked at YVMC since July and only recently joined the air ambulance crew.

Baldwin has been a member of the air ambulance crew since April.

It is not yet known what caused Tuesday's crash. The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board have been notified and are expected in Rawlins this afternoon. Rawlins residents said it was snowing heavily at the time the plane went down, but it is not known what impact the weather had.

This is the second time in less than two years that the Yampa Valley Air Ambulance has gone down. On March 19, 2003, the air ambulance crashed near Kremmling in an incident that was blamed on pilot error. The pilot was later terminated. The three people on the plane in that crash -- including Linner -- walked away with minor injuries.

The air ambulance was damaged in the 2003 crash and was replaced with a plane that was dedicated on May 18, 2003. The replacement plane was a 1978 Beech E-90 outfitted with emergency medical supplies and equipment for use in transporting patients.

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