CLAY COUNTY, Mo.— The investigation into what caused a deadly helicopter crash in Clay County continues. FOX 4 is learning more details about the minutes before Friday night's accident that killed three Life-Net of the Heartland crew members and one patient on board.
The medical helicopter lifted off from Rosecrans Memorial Airport in St. Joe to pick up a patient at Harrison County Community Hospital in Bethany, Mo. The transport was supposed to take the patient to Liberty Hospital.
"Pilot recognized the need to put additional fuel on the aircraft and diverted to Midwest National Air Center in Mosby, Missouri," said Craig Yale.
Refueling with a patient on board is not common according to the corporate vice president of Air Methods, the company that owns Life-Net of the Heartlands.
"We try to do our flights in such a way that we don't have to add fuel while the patient is on board," Yale said.
On the way to re-fuel, the aircraft lost contact with the communication center at 6:41 p.m.
"When we lost that ping, we notified the airport to see if we could find out if the aircraft had landed," he said. "They were not able to do that."
Police were notified of the coordinates of where the last ping was received and confirmed the aircraft had crashed.
"Just short of the field at Mosby, the aircraft had a catastrophic crash," he said.
Officials say they are unaware of any distress signals the pilot have have sent before the helicopter crash.
"I've not been told in anyway that there was any type of distress call," Yale said. "A mayday. And nothing from what, the conversation he had with our community center would suggest that there was an issue."
Air Methods Corporation says the pilot was extensively trained. He had worked for the company for about a year after a deployment to Afghanistan.
Air Methods is the largest air medic provider in the world with more than 400 aircraft. According to the corporate vice president, their deadly accident rate is about six per 1,000 hours flown. They fly about 200,000 hours a year.
Source: http://www.fox4kc.com
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