Another One is Lost

Condolences to the family and friends.

Side note: how much worse luck could he have?

A preliminary investigation indicated Judkins was one mile away from the airport when he reported mechanical problems.
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They had expected him to be transported via helicopter — and in fact the man was loaded into the state police helicopter — but mechanical problems with the aircraft forced its grounding. Westminster emergency crews transported the victim instead, Roper said.

...
Russo confirmed that the helicopter had a mechanical issue and was grounded at the scene. In a release, state police said that, "Without delay, the pilot called for a second helicopter."
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That is sad. Never heard of that LSA, but then again I haven't heard of most of them.
 
I've sat in a Remos GX. It's cramped. I've flown a Tecnam Sierra. It's cramped. LSAs are like the go-karts of the skies.
 
OK, am I the only one who thinks that this is an unfortunate name for a trauma center?

State police said Judkins died at Shock Trauma.
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Also, he was found 50' away still strapped in his seat? How common is that in airplane crashes? So much for a roll cage.
 
The story I've heard is that he reported elevator control failure and the airplane was very difficult to control. It's not clear whether the airplane had a BRS chute installed. I base my statement on trusted sources local to the area, not on the media reports.
 
nddons said:
OK, am I the only one who thinks that this is an unfortunate name for a trauma center?
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I have lived in the Maryland area too long. I have heard that name so many times I thought Shock Trauma was a standard name for any emergency center. Thanks for teaching me otherwise.
 
And Maryland and their institute for emergency medical services at Hopkins invented the concept of the trauma center. Shock Trauma was the first, and that's why ER's became "trauma centers" over the years. There was a pretty radical shift in the way the way the urgent cases were managed and it's become the standard nowadays.

There's a significant difference between a standard ER and one that meets the requirements to be called a Trauma Center. And, no, I don't know what they are any longer. I haven't been in emergency medical stuff in almost 20 years.
 
Not quite Tim. While as a Hopkins graduate, I would love to take credit on behalf of my school for ShockTrauma (or the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center as it is known now), the center is a outgrowth of the University of Maryland (UMAB ) medical center not Hopkins.

The Institute for Emergency Medical Systems Services MIEMSS) is an independent state agency. It came after Shock Trauma, but it's based on some of the efforts Dr. Cowley negotiations to get the right patients to Shock Trauma when it was considered heresy not to take people to whatever the closest hospital was.

It was also these organizations that worked with the Maryland State Police to get the police their helicopters with the provision that emergency medical transport came first. While ShockTrauma is preferred for multisystem trauma, there are also regional trauma centers now across the state, a burn unit at Bayview, pediatric trauma'/burns at the Hopkins Children's Center, etc...

It was always a let down when we'd call for a chopper and it wasn't available for some reason. We could really make the ambulances fly in that case. Back in my day they were VFR only and we lost a chopper and crew when it left Shock Trauma in declining conditions.

I was a paramedic for a few years in Maryland.
 
TMetzinger said:
And Maryland and their institute for emergency medical services at Hopkins invented the concept of the trauma center. Shock Trauma was the first, and that's why ER's became "trauma centers" over the years. There was a pretty radical shift in the way the way the urgent cases were managed and it's become the standard nowadays.

There's a significant difference between a standard ER and one that meets the requirements to be called a Trauma Center. And, no, I don't know what they are any longer. I haven't been in emergency medical stuff in almost 20 years.
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My first read of the article was "... died of shock trauma" and not "died AT Shock Trauma, so I wondered how bad it was to die of shock trauma, whatever the hell that was. :dunno::redface:
 
I have 9.4 hours in a Remos GX, most recently from a short cross-country trip this past weekend. I'm very curious to see what the NTSB has to say.

TMetzinger said:
The story I've heard is that he reported elevator control failure and the airplane was very difficult to control. It's not clear whether the airplane had a BRS chute installed. I base my statement on trusted sources local to the area, not on the media reports.
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The early reports about elevator control failure (since amended in recent reports to unspecified 'mechanical' problems) are troubling. The Remos is equipped with a detachable horizontal stabilizer, with two sturdy through-bolts holding it to the tail and a robust quick-connector linking the elevator to the control pushrod. Similar connectors are also used on the aileron pushrods for the folding wings; a fatal accident at Sebring 2009 was determined to have been caused by one of these aileron connectors not being secured prior to the flight.

I've attached a pic of the aileron connector; the elevator connector uses the same design, with the same locking tab (visible at the top) to verify it is fastened correctly. It's fairly easy to inspect the elevator connector during preflight, by moving the rudder to one side and looking down at the assembly. It helps to have a flashlight.

Something I haven't been able to verify yet, is in what phase of flight this accident occurred. A failure on takeoff would be a bit easier to understand versus having this happen following a longer flight.

HerrGruyere said:
I've sat in a Remos GX. It's cramped. I've flown a Tecnam Sierra. It's cramped.
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All LSA are cramped, but the Remos is one aircraft I'm actually pretty comfortable in at 5'11" and packing a lot more pounds than I should be. (Pete Zaitcev, who's much thinner and much taller than I am, also flies N28GX on occasion, and he's said it's a tight fit for him.) The most glaring ergonomic issue is the need to crane your neck down to see out the side windows, as the wing root and upper door frames are right at eye level.

nddons said:
Also, he was found 50' away still strapped in his seat? How common is that in airplane crashes? So much for a roll cage.
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Both seats in the Remos are removable -- you must unlatch them from the support frame to reposition them, and to access the baggage compartment behind the left seat -- with the four-point harnesses secured to the fuselage. Judging by the photos it would appear the passenger cell essentially disintegrated on impact.
 

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TMetzinger said:
The story I've heard is that he reported elevator control failure and the airplane was very difficult to control. It's not clear whether the airplane had a BRS chute installed. I base my statement on trusted sources local to the area, not on the media reports.
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The owner of the aircraft (a fellow EAA member) shared with us that she had a BRS chute installed over the winter.
 
The Prelim has been posted, confirming earlier reports of elevator problems. Investigators found the quick-connect flange disconnected from the elevator. The accident flight appears to have been the plane's third since it was reassembled after being placed in storage last year.

Also of note, the activation handle for the parachute was found locked, with the key for it on the same key ring as the ignition key.

http://www.ntsb.gov/aviationquery/br...15X34118&key=1
 
And I note that according to the NTSB report the BRS was installed very recently. As I understand the report the pilot was ferrying the plane to the owner, which could explain the locked BRS - in that airplane it may make sense to lock the BRS handle to prevent someone firing it as a prank. But I bet that it's supposed to be unlocked before flight.

Real question of course is why the elevator disconnected - was it a case of pilot error not checking it before flight, did something fail in the quick disconnect? If it was disconnected (or not properly pinned/secured), was it left that way inadvertently, or could someone have deliberately sabotaged the airplane?

No matter what the answer is... it's still awful.
 
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