Aircraft goes down in fog near the summit of Cajon Pass en route to its base after dropping a patient off at a hospital.
By Duke Helfand and Evelyn Larrubia
Los Angeles Times
Copyright 2006 Los Angeles Times
All Rights Reserved
A medevac helicopter carrying three crew members crashed Sunday night in a mountainous area near the summit of Cajon Pass, killing all aboard, authorities said.
The helicopter from Mercy Air Service Inc. was returning to its base at the Southern California Logistics Airport in Victorville from Loma Linda University Medical Center when it went down in fog about 6:02 p.m. at about 4,000 feet elevation. Before the crash, the crew had airlifted a patient from the community of Phelan, near the pass’ summit, to the Loma Linda facility.
Authorities did not release the names of the crew members.
“We received several reports, mostly from northbound traffic onthe I-15 freeway, that stated they saw something fall from the skyand then saw an explosion,” said Capt. Bret Raney of the SanBernardino County Fire Department.
He said investigators could not confirm whether the helicopterstruck power lines before it crashed about 10 miles south ofVictorville in a remote area not far from Silverwood Lake.
A top executive with Mercy Air’s parent company, Air Methods Corp.of Englewood, Colo., confirmed that the helicopter belonged to hisorganization.
“One of Mercy’s airships was involved in an accident,” said AaronTodd, Air Method’s chief executive officer. He would not release anyfurther details.
Investigators from the Federal Aviation Administration andNational Transportation Safety Board were dispatched to the sceneSunday night.
FAA spokesman Ian Gregor said the Bell 412 helicopter crashed nearthe top of Cajon Pass during its repositioning flight from Loma Lindato Victorville.
“The helicopter crashed [and] caught fire,” he said. “All threepeople aboard were killed.”
The FAA initially was concerned that the helicopter might havestruck power lines, but Gregor said investigators had not foundevidence of that by late Sunday.
Gregor added that the helicopter was being operated under visualflight rules and not being handled by air traffic control, a practicehe called “perfectly normal.”