By Blair Miller
Billings Gazette
The pilot of a Life Flight helicopter out of Missoula that crashed in Lincoln in late August had looked at multiple landing areas, scouted the chosen one and received clearance from a person on the ground that it was safe to land before the aircraft crashed, according to a preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board.
The report details the three-person crew’s flight in the early morning hours of Aug. 26 that ultimately resulted in the helicopter crashing into a sign 10 feet above the ground near the middle of downtown Lincoln. None of the crew members were injured in the crash.
| HOT TOPIC: ‘Laser tag’ threat during Ore. protests causes medevacs to avoid landing at hospital
The crew was responding to a four-wheeler crash and arrived from Missoula around 12:48 a.m., then had to orbit the scene for about 15 minutes as they waited for an ambulance to arrive, according to the report. Skies were clear at the time.
The pilot looked at several possible landing areas during that time and picked a 100-foot-by-100-foot parking lot to land in, identifying trees, wires and tall signs as hazards nearby. Once the ambulance arrived, the pilot took a low pass on the approach path to take a closer look, the report states.
The pilot and crew decided it was safe to land and also discussed an approach and possibilities for if they needed to abort the landing, the NTSB found.
“The pilot then spoke to the ground contact and received a landing zone brief and was told that the landing zone was clear with no overhead obstructions and that the police would block the road,” the report states.
The pilot performed a steep approach in order to avoid obstacles and aimed for the middle of the landing zone. When the helicopter was 50 feet above the ground, dust was kicked up by its rotor wash, but the crew was wearing night-vision goggles and could see through the dust, according to the report. They decided to continue the approach.
But when the helicopter, a Bell 407GXi, was 10 feet above ground level, its rear hit a sign and the aircraft crashed into the parking lot, coming to rest on its side against one of the posts that held up the sign it crashed into.
The report states its fuselage and main and tail rotors all sustained “substantial damage.” It also states the pilot had reported “no pre-accident mechanical anomalies or malfunctions that could have precluded normal operation.”
The crash was determined to be an accident; a final report on the crash will be released in coming months once the investigation is complete.
The Life Flight Network is a nonprofit patient transport service providing helicopter, fixed-wing and ground ambulance transport throughout Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana.
© 2025 the Billings Gazette (Billings, Mont.).
Visit www.billingsgazette.com.
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
