DENVER – The nation’s largest air ambulance company has agreed to pay $825,000 to settle a civil lawsuit alleging the Colorado-based firm operated a helicopter with defective safety equipment, the state’s U.S. attorney said Friday.
U.S. Attorney Jason Dunn said in a statement that Air Methods Corp. of Greenwood Village allegedly operated an ambulance helicopter with severely corroded pitot tubes in violation of Federal Aviation Administration airworthiness regulations.
Pitot tubes help measure airspeed for pilots of the aircraft. Dunn’s office contends the firm continued to operate a helicopter for several days after an FAA inspector found the defective tubes during a 2014 inspection in Tampa, Florida, and notified the company.
Dunn said Air Methods acknowledged no liability in settling the lawsuit, which was filed in federal court in Denver in 2019.
An emailed request for comment to an Air Methods spokesman wasn’t immediately returned.