AIR AMBULANCE HELI FLT ENRTE BTWN 2 HOSPITALS CLIPS A PROHIBITED AREA DUE TO INSUFFICIENT PREFLT PLANNING.

2000-08 · NASA ASRS report 482860

Date: 2000-08 · Aircraft: S-76/S-76 Mark II · Phase: cruise

Anomalies: airspace-violation-all-types|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-far|other-gps-program

Synopsis

AIR AMBULANCE HELI FLT ENRTE BTWN 2 HOSPITALS CLIPS A PROHIBITED AREA DUE TO INSUFFICIENT PREFLT PLANNING.

Narrative

I FLY A PART 135 S76 HELI; SINGLE PLT MEDICAL TRANSPORT MISSION. ON AUG/XA/00; I RECEIVED AN URGENT REQUEST FOR MEDICAL TRANSPORT OF A NEWBORN FROM A HOSPITAL IN ZZZ TO A HOSPITAL IN XXX. WE WERE TO PICK UP A MEDICAL TEAM FIRST; THEN FLY TO ZZZ FOR A PICKUP. I HAD NOT FLOWN INTO THE ZZZ AREA FOR SEVERAL YRS AND HAD NEVER BEEN TO ZZZ. A HASTY MAP RECONNAISSANCE DID NOT SHOW ME THE HOSPITAL; BUT THE COORDINATES PLACED IT OUTSIDE OF PROHIBITED AIRSPACE; SO I LANDED AND PLANNED TO USE RADAR TO ASSIST. UPON ARR AT THE RPTING POINT; WITH THE ZZZ HELI RTE CHART OUT; I WAS GIVEN CLRNC DIRECT TO ZZZ. AFTER SEEING I WAS WELL CLR OF THE PROHIBITED SPACE; I SET MY MAP DOWN ON THE CTR CONSOLE TO WATCH FOR TFC AND SEARCH FOR THE HELIPORT USING OUR GPS TO NAV. ZZZ TWR TOLD ME TO TURN 20 DEGS R TO AVOID A PROHIBITED AREA. I ANSWERED 'ROGER' AND STATED THAT 'I DID HAVE MY MAP OUT.' TWR REPLIED 'YOU ARE FLYING IN HERE WITHOUT A MAP?' TO WHICH I ANSWERED THAT 'I HAD A MAP; BUT HAD SET IT DOWN TO FIND THE HELIPAD.' I DID NOT AT THIS TIME KNOW WHERE THE PROHIBITED AREA WAS. TWR GAVE ME A FREQ CHANGE WHICH I ROGERED. REALIZING I WAS STILL 3-4 MI FROM ZZZ; I CALLED BACK TO TWR TO RE-ESTABLISH CONTACT. AS I MANEUVERED THE HELI S TO THE ZZZ PAD; THE TWR ROGERED ME AND TOLD ME TO CALL LNDG ASSURED AT THE HOSPITAL. ON A 1/2 MI FINAL TO THE HOSPITAL PAD; I CALLED LNDG ASSURED AND WAS GIVEN A FREQ CHANGE FROM YYY TWR. I DID NOT KNOW THE LOCATION OF THE PROHIBITED AREA; BUT TWR SAID NOTHING ABOUT IT. I AM NOT CERTAIN; BUT I COULD HAVE FLOWN OVER PART OF THE PROHIBITED AREA ON FINAL TO ZZZ. ON THE GND; I DID A THOROUGH RECONNAISSANCE OF THE MAP; NOTICING A 'BLOW UP' OF THE AREA ON THE BACK OF THE MAP. ON DEP; I TOOK OFF W FOLLOWING THE RTE N TO KEEP WELL CLR OF THE PROHIBITED AREA. IN RETROSPECT; I REALIZE THAT I SHOULD NOT HAVE LAUNCHED WITHOUT KNOWING THE EXACT POS OF ZZZ ON THE MAP. I ALLOWED THE URGENCY OF THE TRANSPORT OF A SICK INFANT TO RUSH ME. A MORE THOROUGH MAP RECONNAISSANCE WOULD HAVE REVEALED THE PROHIBITED AREA PROX (1 MI) TO ZZZ AND PROMPTED MORE CAUTION ON MY PART. FURTHER; BEING UNFAMILIAR WITH THE AREA; I SHOULD HAVE REQUESTED RADAR VECTORS FROM YYY TWR AROUND THE PROHIBITED AREAS AND TO ZZZ. MY TRIMBLE GPS HAS RESTR AIRSPACE WARNINGS; BUT DID NOT WARN ME OF THIS ONE. TO PREVENT A RECURRENCE OF THIS EVENT; I BRIEFED OUR PLTS ON THIS EVENT AND INFORMED MY CHIEF PLT. WE NOW HAVE A SECTION IN OUR READING FILE ON THE ZZZ AREA AIRSPACE.

Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.

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