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A4 U.S. NEWS
Saturday 4 March 2023
Nevada crash is 3rd fatal one tied to air medical service

The company that owns still under investigation.
the medical transport air- In January 2019, a medical
craft that crashed in north- transport aircraft crashed
ern Nevada last week, kill- outside Juneau, Alaska. A
ing all five people aboard, pilot, nurse and paramedic
has been tied to two other on their way to get trans-
fatal crashes in the last four port a patient were killed.
years. The bodies of the crew
A review of records shows have yet to be found. After
that with the latest crash, a nearly two-year investi-
11 people total have now gation, the NTSB could not
died on planes owned and determine the cause.
operated by Guardian A 2018 crash in Arizona
Flight, the Reno Gazette- did not result in any fatali-
Journal reported Friday. ties. Authorities say it was
The company is also now caused by autopilot error
facing its fourth Nation- and pilot overcorrection.
al Transportation Safety An aviation attorney rep-
Board probe since 2018, resenting relatives of the
said Bruce Landsberg, NTSB Rands, who died in the Feb.
vice chairman. 24 crash, told the AP that
A single-engine Pilatus the tragedy was "absolute-
PC12 was heading from ly preventable."
Reno to Salt Lake City on "It really starts with the deci-
Feb. 24 when investigators sion to go in the first place,
say it broke apart. It plum- which never should have
meted to the ground near This photo provided by The National Transportation Safety Board shows NTSB investigators on Sun- been made," said Dan
day, Feb. 26, 2023, at the crash site in Dayton, Nev., documenting the wreckage of a Pilatus PC-12
rural Stagecoach, 40 miles airplane a medical air transport flight operated by Guardian Flight that crashed on Friday, Feb. 24, Rose, a former Navy pilot
(64 kilometers) southeast of while enroute from Reno, Nevada, to Salt Lake City. who has been litigating avi-
Reno. The dead included Associated Press ation cases for 25 years.
pilot, Scott Walton, 46, and Rose said he is looking for-
two medical crew mem- investigation. She said the the next two years. ment. ward to NTSB's preliminary
bers, Edward Pricola, 32, team recovered electronic The flight was a Care Flight, Guardian Flight has more report, which he hopes will
and Ryan Watson, 27. The navigation equipment from which is a service of REMSA than 60 aircraft flying out of provide more details about
patient was Mark Rand, 69. the plane at the crash site Health. Care Flight's avia- 60 locations, including Ha- the overall conditions at
His wife, Terri Rand, 66, had and has sent it to the agen- tion vendor is Guardian waii and Alaska. the time of the nighttime
been accompanying him. cy's headquarters in Wash- Flight. REMSA has ground- In December, a Hawaii Life crash, which occurred
Sarah Sulick, a spokesper- ington, D.C., for analysis. ed its Care Flights for now. Flight medical transport amid a winter storm.
son for the National Trans- A preliminary report outlin- Jena Esposito, KPS3 PR crew was en route to get a He declined to say what
portation Safety Board, said ing the agency's initial find- manager and a spokes- patient when they crashed condition Mark Rand suf-
Thursday a seven-member ings will be released "in the person for REMSA, declined into the ocean off Maui. fered from.
team sent to Nevada over next week or so," Sulick said, comment and deferred in- Investigators found the But it wasn't "life critical,"
the weekend to investigate while a final report contain- quiries to Guardian Flight, bodies of the three crew and he had been dealing
the crash was wrapping up ing the crash's probable which did not immediately members and wreckage with it for several months
the on-site portion of their cause is expected within reply to a request for com- a month later. The cause is before the crash.q

Maine lobstermen have slower year amid industry challenges

key retailers and the loom- year after setting a record George.
ing possibility of new fishing of more than $6.70 in 2021. "It's getting pretty costly to
restrictions. The industry has experi- do what we do," Tripp said.
Maine lobster has explod- enced growth in recent The lower price to fisher-
ed in value in recent years years, as fishermen have men last year did not nec-
in part due to growing in- caught more than 96 mil- essarily translate to lower
ternational demand from lion pounds of lobster per prices for consumers, as
countries such as China. year for 13 years in a row lobsters remain a premium
The industry brought about after never previously seafood product. Fisher-
98 million pounds of lobster reaching that mark. But it is men are typically paid $4
to the docks worth about also wrangling with threats to $5 per pound for their
$389 million in 2022, Maine such as proposed rules to catch, while retailers often
regulators said Friday. That protect rare North Atlantic charge consumers more
was more than 11% less right whales, which are vul- than twice that.
Max Oliver moves a lobster to the banding table aboard his than the previous year, in nerable to entanglement in The potential threats to the
boat while fishing off Spruce Head, Maine, on Aug. 31, 2021. which they harvested more gear. industry include the warm-
Associated Press than 110 million pounds of Last year was a "real steady ing of the Gulf of Maine,
lobster worth more than season," for the most part, which is a key fishing area
By PATRICK WHITTLE seafood species in the U.S., $740 million. but the high price of doing off New England. The gulf
Associated Press had a smaller haul during The value of lobsters also business and a diminished experienced its second-
ROCKPORT, Maine (AP) — a year in which the indus- fell to a little less than $4 price per pound for lobsters warmest year on record
Fishers of Maine lobster, try battled surging fuel and per pound at the docks, were challenges, said John last year, scientists have
one of the most lucrative bait prices, rebukes from the lowest since 2017, a Tripp, a fisherman from St. said.q