Extensive failures found in medevac crash

Report suspects pilot error as cause The taxpayers of Maryland should be disappointed.

A Maryland State Police helicopter pilot made a questionable decision to fly on a foggy night last year. Air traffic controllers were inattentive, unhelpful and sloppy. Troopers tracking the medical rescue flight were complacent and slow to recognize that the helicopter was lost and ran a scattershot search.

Thats what federal transportation safety investigators said Tuesday as they detailed extensive failures on Sept. 27, 2008, when Trooper 2 crashed in Prince George County, killing four.

For decades the state-run program had been praised as the gold standard for emergency medical flights, said National Transportation Safety Board member Robert L. Sumwalt. But once federal investigators peeled back the layers, they found systemic problems in the state-run program, he said. The taxpayers of Maryland should be disappointed.