** NTSB preliminary report into fatal New Mexico air ambulance crash cites wrong fuel as possible problem
** CNN asks for dismissal of lawsuit filed by Baghdad medics alleging reporter bit them during EMS call
UNITED STATES NEWS
** A National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) report into the August 27th crash of an air ambulance near Las Cruces, New Mexico says the aircraft was given incorrect fuel. That is the word from The Charlotte Observer (AP/September 9) which said the twin-engine plane was given jet instead of aviation gasoline. According to the news service, the preliminary report does not definitively point to the fuel as the cause of the accident that killed four people. However, officials say one of the plane’s crew members called dispatchers via satellite phone to say the flight would have to be aborted due to smoke emanating from the right engine.The Elite Medical Air Transport mishap killed pilot Freddy Martinez, 29, flight paramedic Tauren Summers, 27, and flight nurse Monica Chavez, 35. The trio were from El Paso, Texas. Brain tumor patient Frederick Green, 59, from Phoenix, Arizona also died.
** Media company CNN is accusing a pair of Baghdad paramedics of trying to capitalize on the company’s wealth by suing them after a drunken reporter bit one of the providers during an EMS call. The Wrap (Tim Kennedy/September 8) said CNN America, CNN Productions, and reporter Arwa Damon have all applied to the court to dismiss the suit by medics Charles Simons and Tracy Lamar. According to the news site, the company alleges the suit names the wrong defendants in the wrong jurisdiction. CNN says Damon is actually employed by Cable News International Inc. and not them and that the Iraqi courts are the appropriate locale for the proceeding. The filing also calls into question whether Damon actually did bite the medics, given that she had apparently suffered a fall related head injury and was allegedly unconscious at the time. There is no word yet on whether Simons and Lamar have responded to the CNN claims.
