May 11, 2020 at 4:49 p.m.
NTSB issues factual report on 2018 Spirit Air crash
Weaver: 'This is not the final step'
NTSB issues factual report on 2018 Spirit Air crash
The 12-year-old, single engine Airbus Eurocopter AS350 B2, was owned and operated by Air Methods Corporation.
Caruso, Mitchell and Rosenthal were returning to Howard Young Medical Center in Woodruff from Madison, where they had transported a patient, when the crash occurred.
According to the NTSB report, the last contact with the helicopter was at approximately 10:50 p.m. at a point near U.S. Highway 51.
According to the NTSB factual report, the helicopter was fueled up and Caruso radioed when the flight departed Dane County Airport in Madison.
The report also noted that Caruso held a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) commercial pilot certificate with rotorcraft-helicopter, instrument helicopter ratings, a private pilot certificate with single engine airplane rating and an FAA second class medical certificate issued on May 31, 2017.
On his last application for the medical certificate, Caruso reported having accumulated 3,200 hours of total flight time, 100 hours of that logged within the preceding six months.
According to information from Air Methods provided to the NTSB, Caruso received training on Jan. 5 and 7 of 2018 and satisfactorily passed a check ride.
The NTSB said the helicopter was maintained under a company aircraft inspection program and had undergone 100 and 600 hour inspections on April 25, 2018, the day before it went down in Hazelhurst.
At the time of the inspection, the Eurocopter's airframe had nearly 5,153 hours on it and it was not equipped with a vehicle engine multi-function display or a digital electronic control unit.
It was equipped with an enhanced ground proximity warning system and a recorder unit that records to both a removable secure data (SD) card and internal memory.
The NTSB's factual report, released a little more than two years after the crash, includes more detail about some of the inflight chatter between the three men as well as the aircraft's actions as it got closer to Hazelhurst.
Another focus of the report was Caruso's activities in the days leading up to the crash and one the day of the crash. This information determined via analysis of cellphone data as well as interviews with his wife, who is also an Air Methods pilot.
'Alright back there'
According to the report just after 9 p.m. on April 26, helicopter pilot Caruso radioed the operator to report the aircraft was ready to depart Madison.
"According to information from the helicopter's on-board Appareo Vision 1000 recorder (which records image, audio, and parametric data), the pilot conducted a preflight of the helicopter with the engine operating, and no anomalies were detected," the report states. "Yawning and sighs were heard."
Caruso then requested clearance for takeoff and the aircraft departed Madison at 9:07 p.m.
"About one minute later, the pilot asked if the medical crew was 'alright back there,' and one of the medical crew members responded 'yup,'" the report states. "One of the medical crewmembers then stated, 'question is are you alright up there?' The pilot responded, 'uhhh think so. Good enough to get us home at least.'"
About an hour and 10 minutes into the flight back to Howard Young, the report states one of the medical crew said "I could go to sleep" to which Caruso responded "yeah that'd be nice huh."
Not long before that, Caruso made a radio call to Mosinee's Central Wisconsin Airport. "Recorded weather information was heard, and the pilot subsequently made a position announcement," the report states.
After that, non-aviation related chatter between Mitchell and Rosenthal was heard on the recording.
Caruso himself was last heard at around 10:30 p.m., according to the report.
The report indicates an onboard camera picked up some of Caruso's movements over the course of the next several minutes, including "raising his left arm near his helmet (which was mounted with night vision goggles), flexing his legs, adjusting his seating position, and changing cyclic position."
The aircraft's operations at that point appeared to be normal, investigators determined.
That was at around 10:43 p.m.
According to the report, this was when things started to go wrong.
"The artificial horizon indicator then showed the initiation of a right bank," the report states. "The pilot's right forearm started moving along with the cyclic to the right, and the artificial horizon indicated a bank between 10 degrees and 15 degrees. The roll rate to the right appeared to increase rapidly, and the pilot's body, right forearm, and right hand (which was holding the base of the cyclic grip) appeared to move along with the increased roll rate."
Mitchell or Rosenthal were then heard, asking "What are we doin'?" twice.
"The pilot's head moved to the right and could no longer be seen in the image, and the right bank increased to more than 90 degrees," the report states. "A medical crewmember stated, in a strained voice, 'Ohhh (expletive).' The crewmember then shouted 'what?' and the pilot's name. The other medical crewmember also shouted the pilot's name."
The report then said Caruso's head returned to the image and moved to the left.
"His right hand still gripped the cyclic," according to the report. "The artificial horizon showed an inverted indication, and the torque gauge indicated a value beyond the red line. The emergency locator transmitter light illuminated while the pilot's head and upper body moved to the left."
The engine's high revolutions per minute were heard on the recording along with a grunt and either Mitchell or Rosenthal shouting Caruso's name, according to the report.
"The recording contained no response from the pilot when the crewmembers shouted his name," the report stated. "The artificial horizon indicated a right roll of more than 270 degrees with a pitch-down attitude, the altimeter indicated 1,900 ft msl (mean sea level), and the airspeed indicator showed 98 knots."
In the recording's final two frames, the report states Caruso's head and upper body had moved to the right and the aircraft's airspeed indicator displayed 70 knots.
"The artificial horizon indicated a 90 degree left bank with a pitch-down attitude, and the altimeter indicated 1,825 ft msl," the report said. "The company's satellite tracking of (the) helicopter showed a normal route of flight until contact was lost at 2243 (10:43 p.m.). The helicopter wreckage was found about 0215 (2:15 a.m.) the next day."
According to the performance study of the report, the helicopter was losing altitude at a rate of about 5,000 feet per minute in the final six seconds of the flight.
As for Caruso's sleep and rest activity in the time leading up to the crash, the report states that final flight with Mitchell and Rosenthal on April 26, 2018, was Caruso's first following a week-long family vacation in Florida.
"According to cellular telephone records and an interview with the pilot's wife, the pilot had a sleep opportunity of more than 9 hours during each of the 6 nights before the accident," the report states. "On April 25, 2018, the pilot and his family traveled to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on an early morning airline flight, had lunch in Milwaukee, and then made the 4 hour drive home. The trip from Florida to Wisconsin involved a change in time zones."
Cellphone records indicated Caruso's activity from 4:55 p.m. to 8:38 p.m. included two extended breaks in activity greater than 60 minutes between 4:58 p.m. to 6:01 p.m. and from about then to a little more than two hours later.
"The pilot's wife thought that he went to sleep between about 2100 (9 p.m.) and 2130," the report said. "The time that the pilot awoke on the day of the accident was not known."
Again using cellphone records, NTSB investigators found Caruso's activity between 7:25 a.m. and 8:57 p.m. on April 26, the day of the accident, had three extended breaks in activity greater than 60 minutes between 9:23 a.m. and 8:40 p.m.
"The pilot's wife stated that, before going on duty, he would normally rest and sleep during the day, but she did not know if he rested or slept during the day of the accident," the report said. "The pilot's wife reported no issues with the pilot falling asleep or staying asleep."
Caruso's wife was on duty the day of the accident and worked the day shift.
"She saw her husband when he arrived at work for the night shift and thought that he had arrived about 45 minutes early for his shift," according to the report. "They did the shift change together, and she noted nothing unusual about her husband."
The NTSB report states there was an autopsy performed on Caruso at the University of Wisconsin's Anatomic Pathology Laboratory.
"His cause of death was multiple traumatic injuries," the report said. "Toxicology testing performed at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Forensic Sciences Laboratory was negative for ethanol and tested-for substances."
Not the final word
No officials with the NTSB could be reached for comment as of press time but Tom Weaver, spokesman for Ascension/Wisconsin, told The Lakeland Times the publishing by the NTSB of the factual report "is not the final step" with regard to the crash investigation.
"This report now goes to an NTSB Board that will issue the final report and cause," he said. "We have not been given a time frame for this final activity."
Ascension Wisconsin and the entire community continue to mourn those lost that night.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with the families, friends and associates of our lost colleagues and we remember the talents and dedicated service of Rico, Klint and Greg to our organization," Ted Ryan, Director, Ascension Wisconsin Spirit Medical Transport, said in a statement issued after the report became public. "We have mobilized a variety of resources for our associates across the region to meet their emotional and spiritual needs."
Brian Jopek may be reached via email at [email protected].
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