Posted on 04/29/2015 4:22:51 PM PDT by ConservativeStatement
Rescuers were attempting to help a woman who fell from a cliff in the Barton Creek Greenbelt but were having difficulty finding her so they called in STAR Flight. McLain was part of a flight crew that was using bright lights and night vision when they found the patient.
McLain was lowered down to the patient and helped prepare her for transit via helicopter. STAR Flight crews radioed for help indicating something was wrong. Rescue crews on the ground located McLain, who had severe injuries, and attempted to resuscitate her. She was pronounced dead at the scene, ATCEMS chief Ernesto Rodriguez said.
(Excerpt) Read more at kxan.com ...
The first thing I’d want to know is did this crew, and particularly this nurse, have any training in hoist operations. It’s not ordinarily something life flight crews train for, AFAIK. There’s a difference between medical transport and full fledged SAR. If you’re not trained for the latter, attempting it is asking for trouble.
Boy! That’s lacking a bunch of information, isn’t it? Was she on the ground and actually assisting the person they were looking for or did she fall from the helicopter or from the helicopter’s equipment? Why is the NTSB involved?
The NTSB will likely look into weather conditions and flight history, maybe performance of the flight crew. That is my guess.
The nurse fell from the hoist. I assume that means she fell in mid-attempt and from one description it seems as if the jogger had been lifted prior to the nurse’s fall; however, I am not positive.
She probably wasn’t clipped in properly to her harness. It was dark and she may have overlooked something.
Screwups usually happen in threes.
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