Air Angel chopper pilot tells of engine fire emergency

mikea

mikea

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... pilot Steve Kamenir executed an emergency landing on his way to a fatal car accident near Sugar Grove at 3 a.m. Aug. 4.

"One minute the engine was there and the next minute it wasn't," recalled 53-year-old Kamenir, who lives in the tiny Lake County village of Mettawa near Libertyville.


One of his chopper's two engines was experiencing a "catastrophic failure," according to initial reports. The engine - which sits atop the helicopter - burst into flames.

Seven or 8 seconds later, Kamenir guided the chopper to the ground, avoiding people, power lines and vehicles to land in a field.

http://www.dailyherald.com/news/lakestory.asp?id=341351&cc=l&tc=gra&t=Grayslake
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Kamenir prefers flying at night because it's more challenging. Limited visibility means pilots have to rely more on their instrument panel.
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:hairraise: How does he see power lines when landing at an accident scene at night?
 
mikea said:
:hairraise: How does he see power lines when landing at an accident scene at night?
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The ground crew (first responders) is supposed to advise the pilot about wind, wires etc. The EMS pilots I know also use their crew (in some cases the only crew member is a medical tech) to look for obstructions in the spotlight.
 
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at work i have been told that quite a few of the military helo crews use their weather radars to pick out cell towers etc. could be done to see power poles as well.
 
Air Angels flies out of my airport. I'll have to look him up one of these days and congratulate him. His face does look familiar.
 
tonycondon said:
at work i have been told that quite a few of the military helo crews use their weather radars to pick out cell towers etc. could be done to see power poles as well.
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Try finding that stuff in an EMS helo, Tony. Some of those ships have avionics which would embarass all of us...
 
Thanks for posting that. I had heard a helo went down close by (10-15 miles up near Sugar Grove) so that had to be it. I had not heard any thing else after the initial report. Glad he was ok.
 
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