Healed ALERT returns

KRMC's rescue helicopter was damaged in November

Kalispell Regional Medical Center got its own ALERT helicopter back Saturday evening. It is expected to return to duty in a few days.

Chief pilot George Taylor flew the repaired helicopter from Kelowna, British Columbia, where Alpine Aerotech has worked on it since it crashed near its pad Nov. 2.

"It flew great," Taylor said.

Taylor has spent the past few days in Kelowna inspecting and working out the final bugs in the 407 Bell helicopter that is capable of carrying three crew members and one patient.

The final tweaks were to "balance" the helicopter's four blades so that they rotated on and stayed on the same horizontal plane to prevent vibrations. That took 1 1/2 days.

"That's difficult to achieve sometimes," Taylor said.

Now the medical equipment has to be installed in the helicopter, and some final checks need to be made.

The hospital has been leasing a temporary replacement 407 Bell helicopter from Bigfork businessman Larry Wilson. Information about the leasing costs was not available Sunday.

On the evening of Nov. 2, a pilot, a paramedic and a flight nurse took off to pick up a patient in Bigfork. Just after takeoff, an instrument light told the crew that an engine problem had occurred.

The engine then lost power as the helicopter was returning to its pad near the hospital. The pilot executed an autorotation landing. The helicopter was severely damaged. No one was injured.

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the accident. No report on its cause has been issued. Taylor expects that report to be released soon.

The repair bills were about $280,000 for the engine and about $800,000 for the airframe.

Taylor said the repaired aircraft works better than most new helicopters coming off the assembly line.

The hospital decided to repair - and not replace - the helicopter because it could not get a new one prior to 2009, and that would cost at least $1.9 million.

Kalispell's ALERT helicopter service is the nation's first rural hospital-based helicopter ambulance service, flying its first patient in September 1975.

"I'm enthusiastic about having our aircraft back," Taylor said.