Word: pilote
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...year-old pilot named Roger Peterson had agreed to take the singer to Fargo, North Dakota - the closest airport to Moorehead. A snowstorm was on its way and the young pilot was fatigued from a 17-hour workday, but he agreed to fly the rock star to his next gig because, hey, he would be flying Buddy Holly. The second show ended at midnight. The musicians packed up their instruments and finalized the flight arrangements. Holly's bass player, Waylon Jennings, was scheduled to fly on the plane but gave his seat to the Big Bopper, who was suffering from...
...Even flying with two pilots, workload can be an issue," Pietro says before the flight. "If you're flying single-pilot in bad weather and you're trying to land on a highway, it gets real scary. There's just not enough hands to do all the work...
Both single- and double-engine helicopters are common in EMS work, but most medical helicopters fly with just one pilot. Metro Life Flight is one of just a handful of programs in the country that always flies choppers with two engines and two pilots. Founded in 1982, the program has logged just under 66,000 patient flights without a single accident. "I wouldn't fly any other way," says Drew Ferguson, Metro Life Flight's lead pilot. "I don't want to die." Cleveland Metro's Sikorsky S76A started life as a taxi for corporate executives. It is heavy, fast...
Buying more expensive equipment doesn't guarantee safety, however. As the FAA's Peggy Gilligan points out, a number of programs that fly beefy, dual-pilot helicopters with sophisticated safety technologies have crashed, while programs flying small, single-pilot helicopters with nothing more advanced than radio altimeters have perfect safety records. "Operating a medical helicopter is not an inexpensive proposition, and it's not something that people do lightly," says Dawn Mancuso, CEO of the Association of Air Medical Services...
...pilots interviewed for this story said they would prefer new FAA rules requiring night vision goggles and instrument flying technology on all medical helicopters. But some worry such rules might force companies out of business. "From a pilot's perspective, it's utopia" to have night vision goggles, says Gary Sizemore, a medical helicopter pilot and former president of the National EMS Pilots Association. "Is that fiscally realistic? I kind of doubt it. It's bad to say that we don't want to spend the money to save people's lives. But the reality is that somebody...