Angel Flight Down

[[email protected]]

A patient being flown to Boston's Dana Farber was aboard. The flight
originated on Long Island NY's South Fork.

This seems like an extreme case of no good deed going unpunished.
There is so much not said in the news report I've pasted below, but it
is clearly a case where a care giving pilot died, along with two
passengers, on a mercy flight.


The news report follows.

EASTON, Mass. - A small plane carrying a cancer patient to Boston for
medical treatment crashed Tuesday in a grocery store parking lot,
killing all three people on board, authorities said.
ADVERTISEMENT

The single-engine Beechcraft Bonanza went down in the parking lot at a
Hannaford grocery store, said Jim Peters, a spokesman for the Federal
Aviation Administration.

Names of the victims were not immediately released.

The flight was arranged by Angel Flight Northeast, a group of
volunteer pilots that helps people who need to travel for medical
treatment, but can't afford it.

Amy Camerlin, a spokeswoman for the organization, said a cancer
patient and his wife were being flown to Boston's Logan International
Airport so the man could be treated at the Dana-Farber Cancer
Institute.

"Right now our primary concern is the family," she said. "Our thoughts
and prayers go out to the family."

The plane took off from Westhampton Beach on New York's Long Island
and was carrying the pilot and a couple from Long Island, Peters said.

The plane crashed about 500 feet across from the store entrance, near
a road leading out of the lot. Firefighters surrounded the wreckage
Tuesday afternoon, and a charred wing stuck out from the rest of the
debris, which was covered in white cloth.

Store manager Arthur Dechellis the plane crashed in an area where
people rarely park and no cars were hit.

"I didn't see it, I just heard an explosion," he said. "When I looked
outside, it was on fire." Dechellis said the store remained open.

The registered owner of the plane is Janet Keene of Brookfield, Conn.,
but she was not on board, according to her husband, Kenneth Keene. He
said the plane, which his wife had inherited, was used by Angel Flight
about once a month and he knew of no problems with it.

Easton is about 25 miles south of Boston.

[James M. Knox]

wrote in news:c6ae186a-5cea-4758-9797-3356c21211f2
@y21g2000hsf.googlegroups.com:

> A patient being flown to Boston's Dana Farber was aboard. The flight
> originated on Long Island NY's South Fork.
>
> This seems like an extreme case of no good deed going unpunished.

Unfortunately, there is not much information, and there may not be much in
the future. This is (as best as I can tell with what is known) not a case
of scud running, not a case of going below miminums on approach, etc. And
if the one report is correct, not a case of engine failure.

Best guess... and this is NOTHING but idle speculation... he may have lost
his electrical system, and with it, all his navigation and radio gear. The
reports are consistent with someone looking for a place to land, not
knowing where he was.

[Morgans[_2_]]

"James M. Knox" > wrote

> Best guess... and this is NOTHING but idle speculation... he may have
> lost
> his electrical system, and with it, all his navigation and radio gear.
> The
> reports are consistent with someone looking for a place to land, not
> knowing where he was.

I sure hope that is not the case. If it is, it would be a pity someone
bought the farm (along with some others) because he did not have a working
handheld radio, and possibly a handheld GPS, as backups.

What were the weather conditions at the time? My post history is lost on
this thread.
--
Jim in NC

[A Guy Called Tyketto]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Morgans > wrote:
>
> What were the weather conditions at the time? My post history is lost on
> this thread.

Here you go.

KBOS 121354Z 35008KT 9SM -RA BKN009 BKN027 OVC050 17/15 A2970 RMK AO2
SLP056 P0002 T01720150

If you pop over to LiveATC.net, they have the full ATC feed for
the entire incident. BOS is one of their featured feeds.

Truly sad (the AFNE going down)..

BL.
- --
Brad Littlejohn | Email:
Unix Systems Administrator, |
Web + NewsMaster, BOFH.. Smeghead! :) | http://www.wizard.com/~tyketto
PGP: 1024D/E319F0BF 6980 AAD6 7329 E9E6 D569 F620 C819 199A E319 F0BF

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[[email protected]]

On Aug 12, 4:06*pm, wrote:
> A patient being flown to Boston's Dana Farber was aboard. The flight
> originated on Long Island NY's South Fork.
>
> This seems like an extreme case of no good deed going unpunished.
> There is so much not said in the news report I've pasted below, but it
> is clearly a case where a care giving pilot died, along with two
> passengers, on a mercy flight.
>
> The news report follows.
>
> *EASTON, Mass. - A small plane carrying a cancer patient to Boston for
> medical treatment crashed Tuesday in a grocery store parking lot,
> killing all three people on board, authorities said.
> ADVERTISEMENT
>
> The single-engine Beechcraft Bonanza went down in the parking lot at a
> Hannaford grocery store, said Jim Peters, a spokesman for the Federal
> Aviation Administration.
>
> Names of the victims were not immediately released.
>
> The flight was arranged by Angel Flight Northeast, a group of
> volunteer pilots that helps people who need to travel for medical
> treatment, but can't afford it.
>
> Amy Camerlin, a spokeswoman for the organization, said a cancer
> patient and his wife were being flown to Boston's Logan International
> Airport so the man could be treated at the Dana-Farber Cancer
> Institute.
>
> "Right now our primary concern is the family," she said. "Our thoughts
> and prayers go out to the family."
>
> The plane took off from Westhampton Beach on New York's Long Island
> and was carrying the pilot and a couple from Long Island, Peters said.
>
> The plane crashed about 500 feet across from the store entrance, near
> a road leading out of the lot. Firefighters surrounded the wreckage
> Tuesday afternoon, and a charred wing stuck out from the rest of the
> debris, which was covered in white cloth.
>
> Store manager Arthur Dechellis the plane crashed in an area where
> people rarely park and no cars were hit.
>
> "I didn't see it, I just heard an explosion," he said. "When I looked
> outside, it was on fire." Dechellis said the store remained open.
>
> The registered owner of the plane is Janet Keene of Brookfield, Conn.,
> but she was not on board, according to her husband, Kenneth Keene. He
> said the plane, which his wife had inherited, was used by Angel Flight
> about once a month and he knew of no problems with it.
>
> Easton is about 25 miles south of Boston.

I'd like to know about the decision making process an MD might have
made to send a patient to Dana in Boston (5th best cancer hospital in
the US according to US News) instead of Sloan in NYC (2nd best). There
would have been no reason for anyone to have suspected this tragic
result, of course, just wondering why the physically nearer and
somewhat superior hospital would not have been first choice, and maybe
learn a hidden lesson from this awful crash.

[Peter Clark]

On Sat, 16 Aug 2008 14:05:40 GMT, "James M. Knox" >
wrote:

wrote in news:c6ae186a-5cea-4758-9797-3356c21211f2
:
>
>> A patient being flown to Boston's Dana Farber was aboard. The flight
>> originated on Long Island NY's South Fork.
>>
>> This seems like an extreme case of no good deed going unpunished.
>
>Unfortunately, there is not much information, and there may not be much in
>the future. This is (as best as I can tell with what is known) not a case
>of scud running, not a case of going below miminums on approach, etc. And
>if the one report is correct, not a case of engine failure.
>
>Best guess... and this is NOTHING but idle speculation... he may have lost
>his electrical system, and with it, all his navigation and radio gear. The
>reports are consistent with someone looking for a place to land, not
>knowing where he was.

As far as I know there were recorded radio comms, including
acknowledgements to alerts of low altitude, pretty much up to the end.
Reports are he came down in a nose-down spiral out of the clouds. I'll
leave it up to the NTSB to make conclusions.

[James M. Knox]

wrote in news:e483c736-5b9d-4690-8b0d-c81c232718d8
@k30g2000hse.googlegroups.com:

> I'd like to know about the decision making process an MD might have
> made to send a patient to Dana in Boston (5th best cancer hospital in
> the US according to US News) instead of Sloan in NYC (2nd best). There
> would have been no reason for anyone to have suspected this tragic
> result, of course, just wondering why the physically nearer and
> somewhat superior hospital would not have been first choice, and maybe
> learn a hidden lesson from this awful crash.

I can give you a general answer (i.e. may or may not be the case for this
particular patient). Most of our patients are in *experimental* cancer
programs. The protocol for those is that they are usually allowed at a
VERY limited number of sites - sometimes only one location in the US.

The result is that you either find a way to get to the hospital that IS
doing the trial (and that may be thousands of miles away), or you don't get
the treatment. That simple. And insurance, even if you have it, won't pay
for the travel.

-----------------------------------------------
James M. Knox
TriSoft ph 512-385-0316
1300 Koenig Lane West fax 512-371-5716
Suite 200
Austin, Tx 78756
-----------------------------------------------

[a[_3_]]

On Aug 20, 5:56 pm, "James M. Knox" > wrote:
> wrote in news:e483c736-5b9d-4690-8b0d-c81c232718d8
> @k30g2000hse.googlegroups.com:
>
> > I'd like to know about the decision making process an MD might have
> > made to send a patient to Dana in Boston (5th best cancer hospital in
> > the US according to US News) instead of Sloan in NYC (2nd best). There
> > would have been no reason for anyone to have suspected this tragic
> > result, of course, just wondering why the physically nearer and
> > somewhat superior hospital would not have been first choice, and maybe
> > learn a hidden lesson from this awful crash.
>
> I can give you a general answer (i.e. may or may not be the case for this
> particular patient). Most of our patients are in *experimental* cancer
> programs. The protocol for those is that they are usually allowed at a
> VERY limited number of sites - sometimes only one location in the US.
>
> The result is that you either find a way to get to the hospital that IS
> doing the trial (and that may be thousands of miles away), or you don't get
> the treatment. That simple. And insurance, even if you have it, won't pay
> for the travel.
>
> -----------------------------------------------
> James M. Knox
> TriSoft ph 512-385-0316
> 1300 Koenig Lane West fax 512-371-5716
> Suite 200
> Austin, Tx 78756
> -----------------------------------------------

I've sat on several IRBs and overlooked the possibility he might have
been a subject in a clinical trial! Thanks for pointing that out. That
possibility makes the flight much more reasonable,

[gpsman]

On Aug 12, 4:06 pm, wrote:
>
> EASTON, Mass. - A small plane carrying a cancer patient to Boston for
> medical treatment crashed Tuesday in a grocery store parking lot,
> killing all three people on board, authorities said.
>
> Easton is about 25 miles south of Boston.

And Westhampton Beach is about 160 miles from Boston...
-----

- gpsman