Medivac Crash in Arizona

helopilot2be · December 15, 2004

A friend just called and said a mutual friend of ours has crashed her helicopter in the Phoenix area. Does anyone have any info on the crash. There are a bunch of worried folks here in Maryland. It should have been a medivac operated by PHI.

Thanks,

Chris

Squirrel · December 16, 2004

From the FAA

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** Report created 12/15/2004 Record 1 **

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IDENTIFICATION

Regis#: 971AE Make/Model: AS50 Description: AS-350/550 ECUREUIL, ASTAR, SU

Date: 12/14/2004 Time: 0437

Event Type: Accident Highest Injury: Fatal Mid Air: N Missing: N

Damage: Substantial

LOCATION

City: APACHE JUNCTION State: AZ Country: US

DESCRIPTION

HELO, A EUROCOPTER ASTAR 350, CRASHED IN A SAFEWY PARKING LOT IN APACHE

JUNCTION, AZ. 3 POB, 1 IS REPORTED FATAL AND 2 ARE IN SERIOUS CONDITION;

AND SUBSTANTIAL ACFT DAMAGE. APACHE JUNCTION, AZ

INJURY DATA Total Fatal: 1

# Crew: 1 Fat: 1 Ser: 0 Min: 0 Unk:

# Pass: 2 Fat: 0 Ser: 2 Min: 0 Unk:

# Grnd: Fat: 0 Ser: 0 Min: 0 Unk:

WEATHER: NOT REPORTED

OTHER DATA

Activity: Unknown Phase: Unknown Operation: General Aviation

Departed: UNKN Dep Date: Dep. Time:

Destination: SDL HOSPITAL Flt Plan: NONE Wx Briefing: N

Last Radio Cont: UNKN

Last Clearance: UNKN

FAA FSDO: SCOTTSDALE, AZ (WP07) Entry date: 12/15/2004

helopilot2be · December 16, 2004

Yes, thanks to both of you. We are just trying to confirm that it was not our friend that was killed.

Chris

Blue Thunder · December 16, 2004

Here is a link to the news story.

http://www.azcentral.com/12news....15.html

I am sorry to hear about this.

Whirlwind · December 16, 2004

Here's more on the Medevac crash in Apache Junction Arizona last night. A nurse was killed, the pilot and another are in serious condition.

Apache Junction, AZ Crash Update

aser · December 31, 2004

I heard the female pilot is Spanish, anyone can confirm?

1 killed, 2 rescued in crash

Senta Scarborough

The Arizona Republic

Dec. 16, 2004 12:00 AM

Officers sent to secure the landing site for an emergency medical helicopter watched it plummet to the ground late Tuesday before rushing into the wreckage and saving two of the three people aboard, Apache Junction police said Wednesday.

The engine was still running and fuel was leaking when the three officers, two of whom witnessed the crash, pulled the pilot and a flight nurse to safety.

Police couldn't reach Doreen Renee Johnson, 26, of Queen Creek, a part-time Air Evac Services Inc. flight paramedic. Johnson, a full-time Southwest Ambulance employee since August 2002, died at the scene. advertisement

The helicopter was dispatched shortly after 10:30 p.m. from Williams Gateway Airport to pick up a head-injury victim and went down minutes later in front of a 99¢ Stores at Meridian Road and Apache Trail in Apache Junction.

"It started rotating on its horizontal axis to the right and left and then back to the right and nose-dived into the parking lot," Apache Junction police Sgt. Dick Virgil said.

The two officers who witnessed the crash said there were problems while it was about 100 to 300 feet in the air trying to land.

Officers Adam Short, a three-year veteran; Paul Newman, with five years; and Steve Martin, with three years at the department, helped pull two members of the crew from the crash, Virgil said.

"They put themselves in harm's way into the wreckage to get the two survivors out," Virgil said. "They went above and beyond in trying to save their lives in this courageous act."

The pilot, Susanna Corcoles, and flight nurse Kelly Foster-Stopka both suffered serious injuries in the crash and are expected to recover.

"We lost a family member," Air Evac Services Inc. regional director David Motzkin said. "We have the deepest grief for the loss of Renee, and we stand steadfast in support of Renee's family."

"We are proud of the way she (Susanna) flew the air craft," said Motzkin, who said the women's survival is a tribute to the pilot's skills.

The National Transportation Safety Board will conduct the investigation with assistance from the Federal Aviation Administration.

The helicopter, an American Eurocopter AS350, was transported from the site late Wednesday to a secure FAA facility for a mechanical evaluation, Virgil said.

"They will tear it down and build it back to determine exactly what happened," he said.

Virgil said the crash scene was spread over a 200- by 200-foot area.

He said same location had been used in the past for emergency medical helicopter landings and that there had been no accidents.

According to FAA records, the helicopter had never been in an accident or incident. Corcoles, who has had a commercial pilot's license since July 1996, had never been involved in an accident or incident, according to FAA records.

It was the first rotor-wing accident "since we started 35 years ago," Air Evac Services program director Linda Young said. "This is a shock to us. This is something we didn't expect."

In October, the company received a 100,000 accident-free patient rotor-wing missions award from the Association of Air Medical Services, a national air ambulance industry group.

Air Evac Services Inc. is based in Phoenix and operates nine helicopters and three airplanes statewide.

The company is a subsidiary company of Petroleum Helicopter Inc., the world's largest helicopter service company, which is known for providing services to oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico.