Ambulance Crash Log
Airlift helicopter crashes leaving hospital, injuring at least three - Olympia, Washington

Oct 30, 2005, 08:49

Federal investigators were at Providence-St. Peter Hospital early Saturday, examining debris from the second Airlift Northwest medical-evacuation helicopter crash in a month.

None of the four people on board was seriously injured in the accident, which occurred on takeoff from the hospital roof late Friday. The previous crash, Sept. 29 near Edmonds, killed all three crew members.

One of the three crew members from Friday's accident was hospitalized overnight but expected to be released Saturday, hospital spokeswoman Deborah Shawyer said.

The fourth person in the aircraft was a patient who had been brought to Olympia from Grays Harbor County by ambulance for helicopter evacuation to Seattle's Harborview Medical Center.

Weather on the coast was too rough, so the pilot "wisely decided" to do the pickup in Olympia, said Michael Copass, medical director at Airlift Northwest. The patient had "a life-threatening vascular issue," he said.

"I heard this really funky noise and I'm watching it and all of a sudden it starts going sideways," said witness Nadine Lopez. "It just came down 'whoosh.' It was level and it just fell."

The patient was not injured in the crash, which occurred immediately after liftoff, but was being treated at St. Peter hospital for the pre-existing problem and unlikely to be moved now, Shawyer said.

"On takeoff, the helicopter lost power and more or less fell off the building," landing between the hospital and an outbuilding, Copass said.

William Knight was inside the emergency room when the copter crashed down outside. "I heard the helicopter take off and then I seen it coming down at an angle and I remember seeing the glass breaking and my girlfriend and I ducked behind some vending machines," he said.

A hospital security guard suffered minor injuries while trying to help people from the wreckage.

"After spending time in the military and being around pilots, that's one hell of a pilot," said Shawn Truesdale, who witnessed the crash. "Seriously. He made the best out of a bad situation, if you think about it."

The aircraft was one of two new $4.4 million Augusta A-109 helicopters purchased by Airlift Northwest, he said. "We'd just begun to upgrade the fleet."

"We were somewhat taken aback and grounded the other one" until authorities determine the reason for Friday's crash, Copass said.

The Federal Aviation Administration was on scene Friday night and again Saturday morning, when the National Transportation Safety Board took over the crash investigation, said FAA's Debbie Taylor in Auburn.

Debris from the crash - near the hospital's emergency room - was to be removed Saturday, said Olympia Fire Battalion Chief Pat Noonan.

There was some damage to the building, Shawyer said.

In the Sept. 29 crash, the helicopter was en route from Seattle to its home base in Arlington when it plummeted into Puget Sound, killing pilot Steve Smith, 59, of Whidbey Island, and nurses Erin Reed, 48, and Lois Suzuki, 47, both of Seattle.

In September 1995, a similar accident off Bainbridge Island also claimed three lives.

The crash last month involved a helicopter that was 18 to 20 years old and not equipped with a night-vision system - one of the upgrades in the chopper that went down Friday.

Before the accident last month, Airlift Northwest had operated six helicopters from four bases around the region. A replacement chopper was brought in shortly after that crash.

But with Friday's accident and the idling of the second new helicopter, the company is down to four.

Seattle-based Airlift Northwest provides emergency air transport for critically ill or injured patients in Washington, Idaho, Montana, Alaska and western Canada.

photo courtesy KOMO TV