The University of Mississippi Medical Center issued the following statement.
Members of the AirCare flight crew involved in Monday’s helicopter crash have been identified.
Dustin Pope, 35, of Philadelphia was the base supervisor for AirCare in Columbus and a flight nurse, and Jakob Kindt, 37, was a critical care paramedic from Tupelo. They both started working for UMMC on Aug. 14, 2017. The Med-Trans pilot was Cal Wesolowski, 62, of Starkville.
AirCare transport services have been temporarily grounded, and the Medical Center is working with health care and medical transportation services around the state to meet the needs of Mississippians.
UMMC is offering support to the team members and families affected by this loss and will continue to support the AirCare and Mississippi Center for Emergency Services teams and Medical Center employees in any way possible.
The cause of the accident is currently under investigation by the FAA and NTSB.
Cal Wesolowski
Dustin Pope
Jakob Kindt
14 comments:
Prayers for the families!
Prayers for the families, very sad day for Mississippi.
Heroes for the risks they took saving others -- rest in peace, gentlemen. Praying for their families.
Such honorable and giving men, taken far too soon.
I pray for eventual peace for their loved ones.
Just to be clear, it is what is called a "safety standown." They are not "grounded" as a punitive measure. It is an internal corporate process.
UMC said grounded.
Yes they did, but those talking heads aren't aviators. The public could perceive "grounded" as a punitive action taken. The surviving members of AirCare did nothing wrong. Don't be so defensive.
I would like to know whether these brave men were employees or contract workers. And don't ask 'what difference does it make?". It makes a great difference.
Unless you were their accountant. IT ABSOLUTELY DOESN'T MATTER
I pray they have ample insurance to assist families. Do they get a LEO team to drive ahead of funeral homes once bodies are released from MS State Crime Lab? Devastating to all of us knowing their children & families lost a parent on spring break week. Prayers for the schools when classes resume & counseling will be offered more than likely . These brave men are & forever will be Hero’s!
As the facts emerge on this crash, authorities are saying a dual engine failure on a helicopter of this sort is remote. They are looking for what could have caused both engines to lose power. The crew had just refueled before their flight path to the crash site, so my guess is they are looking closely at that fuel.
The Paramedic and Nurse were employed by UMMC. The pilot is employed by a 3rd party vendor known at MedTrans. That particular aircraft was also owned by MedTrans and leased to AirCare. MedTrans provided the aircraft, pilot, and maintenance. The only aircraft that UMMC actually owns is AC1 which is the EC145 based in Jackson but the maintenance and pilot are still subbed out to a vendor. This is the common practice in HEMS. VERY VERY VERY few, if any, hospitals or EMS agencies own their own aircraft and supply their own pilot and maintenance due to the Type 145 certification it would require and so forth.... anyway - im just rambling now... but yes, the two medical personnel were UMMC employees and the pilot was a MedTrans employee.
I am not sure why the fuel would be such an issue as that same fuel would have been in the tanks of AC1, AC2, and AC4 and the back ups as they all refuel there but I guess it could be some sort of issue.
I hate to say it but these men were emergency medical personnel. They wont get near the fanfare and production as a fallen police officer. EMS personnel from all over the nation wont be sent to mourn their loss. The NY Yankees wont send flowers to their funeral like they do police officers. There wont be a memorial for them like there is for firefighters or police. Let's face it, no one really seems to care about emergency medical personnel until you need us and we are shortly forgotten about after we drop you at the hospital and pull out of the ambulance bay or lift from the pad.
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