April 3, 2008 Mr. Terry Miller Acting President Florida EMS Pilots Association Stuart, Florida Dear Mr. Miller: The purpose of this letter is to recommend Michael R. Markovich for the FLEMS Pilot Association 2007-2008 pilot of the year. On January 7, 2008 at 1827 hours, the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office Helicopter was summoned for a trauma alert emergency medical transport involving a vehicle versus pedestrian accident at the intersection of Orange Camp and Dartmouth Roads, on the South Side of the City of DeLand. At 1830 hours, the aircraft departed with a crew consisting of Command Pilot Michael R. Markovich and Flight Paramedic David Swartzfager. The aircraft was placed on a southerly course, paralleling Highway 17-92 toward the scene of the accident. While following that course at 700 feet and 120 knots, a loud bang was heard and the aircraft made a sharp left yaw, accompanied by multiple warning lights and audible alarms. At 1834 hours, Flight Paramedic Swartzfager declared “mayday” on the radio and activated the night sun illumination system. Command Pilot Markovich immediately instituted the emergency landing procedures, in which he has been trained. The aircraft was auto rotated from 700 feet and 120 knots to a safe landing in a road construction area on the east side of Highway 17-92 in under a minute. The intensity of this maneuver was exacerbated by the last minute observation of a piece of heavy road construction equipment sitting directly in the path of the landing. This resulted in Command Pilot Markovich moving the aircraft glide path to port to avoid a collision with the road surfacing equipment. Once on the ground, after exiting the aircraft, it was discovered that flames were coming from the starboard side engine compartment. Immediately, the crew used the onboard fire extinguisher along with extinguishers supplied by arriving Sheriff’s Office ground units. The fire was quickly extinguished, preventing further damage to the aircraft. The post accident investigation determined that catastrophic failure of the turbine resulted in loss of the aircraft’s power system. The quick actions of the crew and the superior skills exhibited by Command Pilot Markovich resulted in no injury to himself and only minor injury to Flight Paramedic Swartzfager. Both returned to their duty shift the next night. Because of the outstanding skills of Command Pilot Markovich and the quick reaction exhibited once on the ground by both crew members, damage to the aircraft was very minimal and it has been returned to full service. Bio: Duty Pilot Markovich was hired as a Flight Paramedic for the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office on October 5, 1996. He continued in that position until 2003 when he was hired to fill a vacancy as a full time Duty Pilot and continues to serve in that position. Pilot Markovich holds an instructors rating and has aspirations of attaining his airline transport pilot rating. He has consistently performed at an outstanding level with his evaluations reflecting that fact each year, to include the time from February 1, 2007 – January 31, 2008. Though not in the time frame for consideration for the award, it is worth noting that this same Flight Crew received the “1st Place FLIR Vision Award for 2005.” The performance of Command Pilot Markovich in the described incident was beyond exemplary. It was an extraordinary accomplishment. Although Command Pilot Markovich has trained for this kind of situation, this task is very rarely completed successfully, especially to the level of textbook perfection, which he exhibited. This office feels that he is very deserving of nomination for this award. Sincerely, BEN F. JOHNSON SHERIFF By: Rocky Norris Captain Special Services Section rnorris@vcso.us |
| NOMINATION LETTER |
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| Florida EMS Pilots Association |