Bayflite helicopters to fly higher

By JEAN HELLER

© St. Petersburg Times, published May 27, 2000

ST. PETERSBURG -- Pilots who fly the three Bayflite medical transport helicopters have increased the altitude of their route between St. Petersburg and Tampa following the crash of one of their choppers into a radio tower last month.

Karl Poulsen, director of operations for Rocky Mountain Helicopters, which leases the BK117s used by Bayflite and employs the pilots, said Friday he flew with each crew as the helicopters went back into service after the April 25 crash of Bayflite 3 into a radio tower near Weedon Island.

Three people -- the pilot, a paramedic and a flight nurse -- died in the accident.

"We want to fly as high as a patient can tolerate," Poulsen said Friday. "There are some patients with respiratory problems who can't tolerate the rarer air and decreased air pressure of higher altitudes, but when we can go high, we should.

"We haven't made formal changes since the accident, but higher is safer," he said. "There is also the psychological benefit to the pilot of being higher than the radio towers. And nationwide, we are emphasizing our fly-neighborly program, getting our pilots to look at their altitude and get it up higher for the benefit of the people they fly over. Helicopters are not quiet."

The tower Bayflite 3 hit was 649 feet. There are none higher anywhere near the flight route. Helicopters operating in the Tampa Bay area routinely fly at altitudes between 500 and 800 feet. Even at 700 feet, Bayflite 3 would have cleared the tower.

There is no hard-and-fast route between Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg and St. Joseph's Hospital in Tampa, from which the helicopters operate. Flying from St. Petersburg to Tampa, aircraft are cleared by the tower at Albert Whitted Airport to fly generally northeast across Pinellas County. The pilots are free to pick the exact route.

They turn east at the Gandy Bridge and then northeast again over Tampa.

"When we get to the west end of the Gandy, we're in St. Petersburg-Clearwater (International) Airport's air space," Poulsen said. "When we get to the east end of the bridge, we're in airspace that belongs to MacDill (Air Force Base) and Tampa International Airport. We have agreements with them on our approximate routes, so they have some assurance that we won't be in the way of their operations."

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