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Med Flight Lear jet crashes in mountains near San Diego, killing five
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20041024-1139-ca-je...
ASSOCIATED PRESS
October 24, 2004
SAN DIEGO ? A medical air ambulance crashed in the mountains near the Mexican border early Sunday, shortly after taking off from a small air field in
San Diego, authorities said.
Two pilots, two paramedics and a nurse aboard the Lear jet bound for Albuquerque, N.M., were killed in the crash, said Larry Levy, CEO and medical
director of Albuquerque-based Med Flight Air Ambulance, which owned the jet.
Authorities located three of the bodies and were continuing their search for the other two, said Capt. Glenn Revell of the San Diego County Sheriff's
Department.
"It's the terrain that's hampering us," he said, adding that four sheriff's deputies and two Border Patrol agents were guarding the crash site to keep
out hunters and hikers.
The company was withholding the names of the dead Sunday pending family notification, but Levy said four were based out of Albuquerque while the fifth
worked out of El Paso, Texas.
The plane went down in mountainous, isolated terrain near the border, said Larri Frelow, operations manager for the Federal Aviation Administration.
The cause of the crash was not immediately known.
Levy said the FAA and National Transportation Safety Board were investigating the crash, the company's first since it started operations in 1979.
Emergency personnel were hiking to the largely inaccessible area, Frelow said. A San Diego police dispatcher said it would likely take several hours
to get there.
The plane went down around 12:30 a.m., about two miles east of Brown Field.
Levy said the crew was returning to Albuquerque after picking up a patient in Mexico and dropping the person off in San Diego. The crew had received
flight clearance from the Albuquerque communications center and was one minute into flight when radio contact was lost, Levy said.
The airstrip just north of the border is used as a port of entry for private aircraft arriving in California from Mexico and by military and law
enforcement aircraft.
Med Flight Air Ambulance suspended all operations Sunday following the crash "to give the crews time to debrief and cope with the circumstances," Levy
said. The company has about 100 employees at bases in Albuquerque, El Paso and Las Vegas, Nev.
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capt. mike
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this is exactly what happened to
a famous country singer's Reba Macintyre entire band in 1991. Their biz jet took off from Brown at dark conditions and although could have/should have
easily climbed above mt Otay to the east, they plowed into it 30' below the crest. Those jets can climb at 2500 FPM initially. I clear that mouintain
weekly eastbound from brown on a direct course at 1000 FPM. the instrument departure procedure requires west bound until at a prescribed altitude.
then you turn on course eastbound. These and Reba's pilots ignored and were unfamiliar with the conditions......sad but stupid when it's pilot error.
Pilots if going VFR must know the area terrain, its on the charts. but jet jockeys rarely have use VFR charts, then this kind of stuff happens. 
formerly Ordained in Rev. Ewing\'s Church by Mail - busted on tax fraud.......
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Dave
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The Tribune mentioned that they were VFR and correctly took off eastbound.
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capt. mike
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that's my point
they elected to go VFR rather than do the safe IFR departure procedure. probably wanted to pick up their clearance enroute, very legal if you have VFR
conditions avail at the departure. But....they failed to know the terrain while VFR, so they drove into a mountain instead of climbing over it. You
can't see mountains at night much...and you CAN fly VFR at night. very stupid, sorry to say - this was totally preventable.
[Edited on 10-25-2004 by capt. mike]
formerly Ordained in Rev. Ewing\'s Church by Mail - busted on tax fraud.......
Now joined L. Ron Hoover\'s church of Appliantology
\"Remember there is a big difference between kneeling down and bending over....\"
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Dave
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Mike, I was just stating that the paper agreed.
Not only stupid but in a big hurry or lazy or both. Couldn't or wouldn't take the time to file? Jeez...
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capt. mike
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yeah....No chiite Dave,
talk about felony DUMB!!
formerly Ordained in Rev. Ewing\'s Church by Mail - busted on tax fraud.......
Now joined L. Ron Hoover\'s church of Appliantology
\"Remember there is a big difference between kneeling down and bending over....\"
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Anonymous
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Wedding ring found near crash site where newlywed was killed
http://www.abqtrib.com/albq/nw_local/article/0,2564,ALBQ_198...
By Jennifer W. Sanchez
January 5, 2005
When her husband's body was found without a wedding ring, Albuquerque newlywed Tammie Lamphere knew she had to find it.
Volunteers had searched for the ring in the rocky terrain of the Otay Mountains east of San Diego, where Lamphere's husband, John, and four of his
co-workers at Med Flight Air Ambulance Inc. of Albuquerque died when their Lear 35A air ambulance crashed in late October.
Lamphere refused to believe the platinum ring, bearing the engraved words "Te Amar? Siempre" ("I will love you forever"), was lost. She booked a
flight to the crash area to find it herself.
"Everybody told me, 'Tammie, it could be anywhere - it's a hike and dangerous rugged terrain,' " said Lamphere, a 34-year-old teacher. "But he loved
his ring. He always wore it - I just wanted to have that."
On Nov. 10, a day before she was scheduled to leave, Lamphere prayed with her pastor that she would find the symbol of her love. About two hours
later, she was driving on I-25 when she got a phone call from a Med Flight official.
The ring had been found on top of a boulder about 250 feet from the crash site by David Krohn, a U.S. Border Patrol agent at the Brown Field Station
in San Diego.
Krohn, Lamphere said, knew about the crash and later heard voices telling him to return to the site to search for something.
"He said he didn't know what he was looking for," she said. "He just knew he needed to find something of value."
When Lamphere went to pick up the ring in San Diego a few days later, she said she and Krohn made the two-hour hike up the mountain, which overlooks
Tijuana, Mexico. He showed her the crash site and where he found the ring.
Lamphere said she's grateful Krohn followed his heart and found the token of her and her husband's marriage.
"I was happy to have a symbol of the love that we shared, but I was coming home without John," she said.
Now, Lamphere wears her husband's wedding band - on a silver chain - every day, along with her wedding ring.
"It's like holding onto a little piece of him," she whispered as she held the ring in her hand.
Lamphere also wears a one-year anniversary ring she found in her husband's dresser drawer that he was saving to give to her.
It has been 10 weeks since her husband of four months died. Lamphere said she doesn't know when she'll be able to remove the rings from her finger for
good.
Until then, she waits and dreads the question.
"I'm still waiting for someone to ask me, 'Are you married?' I don't know what I'll tell them," she said. "I still feel like I'm married, but he's not
here."
Lamphere met her 30-year-old husband to-be Jan. 10, 2003, at Cowboys, a Northeast Heights country-dance club. He invited her for a cup of hot
chocolate that night.
"He's tall, and he's handsome," she thought after exchanging e-mail addresses with him. "He just had a gorgeous smile."
John Lamphere, who was born in Janesville, Wis., sought an aviation degree while he served in the Air Force. He moved to Albuquerque in October 2002
to fly cargo airplanes and later joined the New Mexico Air National Guard.
He started working as a pilot for Med Flight in April 2004.
Tammie Lamphere, an Albuquerque native, is a third-grade teacher at Zia Elementary School. She has two daughters - Briana, 11, and Marissa, 13.
The two were married June 11 at Heights Christian Church, 6935 Comanche Road N.E., where they worshipped and taught Sunday school.
Five months after their marriage, the church served as the venue for John Lamphere's memorial service.
As she tries to move on, it's painful for Tammie Lamphere to put her husband's life behind her.
Each day, she remembers that he wanted to have a baby with her. He wanted to someday work as a commercial pilot for Southwest Airlines. He wanted to
finish the Cri Cri, a small twin-engine plane he was building in their garage.
"I miss him a lot but I know it's all apart of God's plan," she said with tears running down her cheeks. "We were so in love, but I just wonder, why?"
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capt. mike
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i hate reading this stuff......have to feel sorry, but...
this is a sad thing. Makes me mad it was so senseless........so preventable.....
i hope they find each other in another "plane".
formerly Ordained in Rev. Ewing\'s Church by Mail - busted on tax fraud.......
Now joined L. Ron Hoover\'s church of Appliantology
\"Remember there is a big difference between kneeling down and bending over....\"
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Skeet/Loreto
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Thanks for the post Mike!
Mike a very well discussed Post. You are right on Mark about the Accident.there are others of the same cause all over the World.
Human Error 98.2% of the time.As you and I both Know we must be 10 minutes ahead of our Airplane at all times.
The last time I flew out of San Jose , i Was in Line with two fo the Med Flight Crew from Albg. They were going back as there was some trouble with
the Engines.
I have wondered if it was the same Crew.
Nice People doing a Tough Job.
Take Care.
Skeet/Loreto
Pray or become Prey
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Nikon
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Mike's left the impression that climb rate of a Comanche being less than half that of a Lear should have enabled the Lear to easily do what Mike does
on a routine basis.
FAA departure procedures are stated in terms of "fpm" feet per mile requirements. So groundspeed and climb rate combine to arrive at a fpm figure.
This does not refute the allegation that they were ill advised to depart without complying with the departure procedures, whether IFR or VFR. Med Evac
crews work
under pressure. Fifteen years ago, a Lear arrived at Carlsbad with insufficient fuel to make a normal approach and dead sticked to the runway. It
makes me feel uneasy to hear of a dead pilot being described as "stupid", particularly by another pilot since there is supposed to exist a fraternal
connection in the flying community, and as is too well known, no one who's flown has not done something stupid, and anyone saying he hasn't is just
plain lying.
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capt. mike
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sorry....to disagree just a tad...and you mean well..
i'll delve more in to this manana..
but STUPID is as STUPID does...
....to take a line from the movie...
formerly Ordained in Rev. Ewing\'s Church by Mail - busted on tax fraud.......
Now joined L. Ron Hoover\'s church of Appliantology
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capt. mike
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an apple and an orange...
Yes, a comanche is no Lear, therefore Ft. per mile is the criteria to consider....consider being the operative word - they (the crew) apparently did
not.
Why is it important? - because the lear is moving horizontally at a much faster rate than my puddle jumper does if both are climbing at the same
initial 1000 Ft. per minute rate. He's flat sloped and i am steep. There's a mountain up ahead. Which do you want to be?
Yes, the pilots have a sort of fraternity - and as part of that I expect a peer to pointedly tell me if he/she sees me do, or hears of my doing
something stupid! (or sloppy, or of poor judgement)
Not to be disparaging, but in the spirit of keeping me OR MY INNOCENT PAX from assuming room temperature!
We might , any one of us, at any time, operate in one of the following 3 failure modes which can easily lead to heartache. I have committed and have
been guilty at various times of all of these in my flying career as well as in life:
1. lack of good, or using poor judgement - this is most overcome by ever constant training regimes and discipline. And improves with experienced
gained over time.
2. sloppiness - this is most overcome by attitude and constantly striving for the highest degree of professionalism.
3. Stupidity - This is overcome by following the rules at all times and wearing/carrying an "aire" of never being or acting complacent.
Flying is my avocation. I am literally BY THE BOOK held to lessor standards than those for whom flying is their VOCATION. And yet we are trained to
always fly as if we are professionals getting paid to do it. It's only the application of certain operating rules and priviledges which differentiate
us. Those guys were pros being paid.
I don't see where they were "advised", ill or not, - the facts seem to show they elected to obtain their clearance enroute after having filed. The
patient had been off loaded, mission critical time had passed - why the hurry?
It comes down to this - the pilot in command, by the stated rules which exist in the FARs, "is RESPONSIBLE to familiarize himself with all available
criteria that may affect the safety or outcome of the flight."
Since they elected to depart VFR and without the benefit of IFR terrain separation, they were required to review the appropriate chart and familiarize
themselves with the intended course and charted minimum safe sector altitudes.
That they did not, and then crashed needlessly, taking several innocents, puts them in the stupid catagory for that day.
And ask any active pilot - running out of gas while in the air is nearly as bad given the rules mandating minimum fuel reserves for all operations,
which by the way are quite liberal. Most safety minded pilots use more conservative criteria than legally required.
The whole thing was tragic, i have empathy. But i will call 'em as i sees 'em.....and that event was totally preventable and unnecessary - in a word,
just plain stupid.
formerly Ordained in Rev. Ewing\'s Church by Mail - busted on tax fraud.......
Now joined L. Ron Hoover\'s church of Appliantology
\"Remember there is a big difference between kneeling down and bending over....\"
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Skeet/Loreto
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Some very good Points by All
We can all argue the points of a Flight and theresultsof that Flight.
For interesting reading all Parties should go to the NTSB and see if you can come up with the "Doctors Syndrome" Investigation which I was Part of so
many years ago. Some People labeled the Beechcraft as a "doctor Killer" when all the time it was caused by "Doctor Training".
Skeet/Loreto
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Nikon
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"Sorry....to disagree just a tad...and you mean well.."
just hold short of the condescension, please.
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Nikon
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"I don't see where they were "advised", ill or not"
"Ill advised" is an expression meaning to have used poor judgement, not advice given.
The remainder of the sanctimonious tome is duly noted.
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