By Carol Robinson
al.com
CHELSEA, Ala. —The dash cam of a Shelby County sheriff’s patrol vehicle captured the deadly Life Saver helicopter crash that happened early this month in Chelsea.
The video showed the helicopter coming over the trees, going out of view for about one second, and then reappearing in a “nose down attitude” before crashing into the roadway, according to a preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board.
The helicopter slid about 20 feet before coming to a rest on its left side in the grass. The Eurocopter EC130 helicoptermedevac then burst into flames.
Marc Gann, 63, and Samuel “Adam” Russell, 43, were killed when the helicopter went down off U.S. 280 just before that Sunday.
Gann was the pilot and Russell was flight nurse.
Medic Amanda Daniels was seriously injured but survived the crash.
The patient the helicopter was going to pick up – 48-year-old Johnny Davis - was transported via ambulance instead and died en route to the hospital. He had been mountain biking with his wife and daughters when he suffered heart trouble.
According to the NTSB report, the air ambulance crash happened at 5:23 p.m.
The cause of the crash is under investigation.
https://www.facebook.com/AirMethods/photos/a.481049148586696/6413611191997099/
A witness and his wife were driving down a road when they saw the helicopter off to the side of the road about 100 feet away and 3 to 4 feet above the ground.
“The helicopter was hovering, facing south, and parallel to the road,’’ the report states. “The helicopter then rapidly ascended and turned towards the road where they were traveling on.”
“The helicopter moved above the car for several seconds and turned 180 degrees back toward a field, and immediately the helicopter pitched nose down and impacted the road behind them,’’ according to the report.
Another witness told investigators he and his wife were outside their house when they saw a helicopter hovering over a field across the road. He was not sure if the helicopter landed or was a few feet above the ground.
The witness said he saw the helicopter’s tail go straight up in the air before it then flew sideways and impacted the ground.
The report detailed devastating damage to the aircraft that included the explanation that the cabin and the pilot’s left side flight controls, as well as other equipment, were pushed about two feet into the fuselage.
©2023 Advance Local Media LLC.
Visit al.com.
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.