Original Message

Back in '98-99, sometime around then, Allegheny Lifeflight got 3 of them, (maybe it was 4), Keystone had the contract.  Traded in BK's for them.  They left one BK in Sharonville, which is where I flew.  Anyway, they got the last MD900 from the factory and flew it to the main helipad in Pittsburg.  Everyone was hanging around the helipad, gawking and talking, and someone spoke up and said "Hey, they misspelled 'Allegheny', part of the hospital's logo blazoned on the side of the helicopter.  Sure enough, even after two previous deliveries, MD managed to misspell Allegheny on this one; they left out one of the 'L's'.  Opps. Well, I thought it was funny.  Won't even talk about the complete nightmare concerning the pivotal, collapsible stretcher system, $50K per copy, by the way, that never did work right.  Defective MR pitch change links, one of which failed in flight, and only by the grace of God and superior piloting skill did the pilot get it on the ground.  Of course, after that, they were all grounded until MD came up with a new P/C link.  And meanwhile, guess who was doing all of the flying?  Yep, the ol' BK.