By Darren Meritz
El Paso Times
MCGREGOR RANGE, NM — The medical helicopter that crashed at McGregor Range this month, killing all three occupants, circled three times before entering a steep nosedive and plowing into the ground, according to a preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Board.
The helicopter then caught fire, which destroyed most cockpit instruments, the report said. The helicopter was owned by Enchantment Aviation, a division of Omniflight Helicopters.
Killed on Feb. 5 were pilot William Montgomery of Avondale, Ariz., and paramedics, John Sutter of Las Cruces and Anthony Archuleta of El Paso. The helicopter crashed about 23 miles northeast of El Paso as it prepared to land at McGregor Range.
It was part of an Army training mission and was attempting to pick up a man on the ground to simulate the nighttime emergency transport of an injured soldier. Standard company practice would be for the aircraft’s pilot and at least one paramedic to be wearing night-vision goggles, the report said.
Army personnel nearby saw the aircraft, an AS350 Eurocopter, make “two right turn orbits.” It then made a third, wider orbit before turning its nose downward and striking relatively level terrain, the report said.
Joel Hochhalter, chief of business operations for Omniflight Helicopters, said the circular orbit is standard as a pilot searches for a clear, safe place to land. Whatever happened that caused the helicopter to crash may have occurred after the pilot circled searching for a landing zone.
“There was no immediate anything that (investigators) would say was the cause,” Hochhalter said.
Investigators discovered the helicopter broken into several pieces, the largest found in or near an 18-inch deep impact crater, the report said. Investigators found the forward portion of the right skid toe fractured and embedded in hard soil.
The report indicates that the pilot, Montgomery, was recently hired by Enchantment Aviation and previously flew helicopters for the U.S. Army and the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office. Montgomery had pilot certification with several large, fixed-wing aircraft. On Dec. 22, Montgomery completed the company’s initial pilot-in-command training. On Jan. 29, he completed the company’s night-vision goggle training program.
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