The propellers were turning when the airplane crashed the night of Aug. 5 while maneuvering about four miles southeast of the Sierra Blanca Regional Airport, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a preliminary report issued this week.
The crash killed the pilot, Ricky Byers, 56, of Ruidoso; flight nurse Brian Miller, 44, of Roswell; and paramedic Deanna Palmer, 40, of Prescott, Ariz.
Also killed were Tracy Smith, 41, of Ruidoso, and her 15-month-old daughter, Lily, who was being taken to an Albuquerque hospital for treatment of an unknown ailment.
The Beechcraft King Air E-90B plowed into trees on a hillside and burned, the NTSB said. The wreckage, strewn over 1,100 feet, was found the next morning.
Scattered clouds dotted the sky when the Southwest Medevac air ambulance took off toward the east, the NTSB said.
A witness then saw the airplane make a left turn toward its Albuquerque destination and disappear, investigators said.
Satellite tracking detected the airplane only once, just northeast of the airport, investigators said.
The airplane had been dispatched from Roswell, arrived at the Ruidoso-area airport to pick up Smith and her daughter, and took off about five minutes later, the NTSB said.