AUSTIN, Texas — STAR Flight rescuer and registered nurse Kristin McLain, 46, died Monday night after falling from a medical helicopter.
At about 9:50 p.m., STAR Flight EC-145 had been searching for a woman who was injured when McLain fell from the helicopters hoist in the Barton Creek Greenbelt. McLain was helping hoist the woman into the helicopter when she fell from the helicopter. She died at the scene, Travis County officials said.
McLain had been with STAR Flight for seven years, STAR Flight program director Casey Ping said during a press briefing early Tuesday morning.
The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the incident, reported the Austin American-Statesman. No other details were provided regarding McLain’s death and Ping did not take any questions.
Moments before the fatal incident, medics responded to a rescue in the Greenbelt for a report of a woman who had fallen from a cliff with injuries to her legs. STAR Flight responded to the rescue and located the woman from the air at about 8:50 p.m. Firefighters and paramedics came to her location and decided to remove her from the Greenbelt by placing her on a hoist attached to the helicopter, EMS told the Austin American-Statesman.
The patient that prompted the search and rescue was transported to University Medical Center Brackenridge with non-life threatening injuries.