06/03/2010 // West Palm Beach, Florida, USA // Sandra Quinlan // Sandra Quinlan
Ellis County, TX—Two people were killed in a fiery medical helicopter crash Wednesday afternoon, June 2, 2010. The fatal aviation accident occurred near Midlothian, Texas, according to information provided by WFAA.com.
Reports indicated two people, a pilot and a mechanic, were aboard a Bell 222 helicopter when it went down. The helicopter initially departed from Grand Prairie Airport. Unfortunately, it crashed at 2:02 p.m., sparking a blaze on impact. The cause of the wreck was not immediately known.
While no patients were being airlifted at the time, those aboard the chopper suffered fatal injuries in the aviation accident. The scene of the medical helicopter wreck was located in a field off of Highway 67 and Wyatt Road in Ellis County.
The helicopter is under ownership by CareFlite, a Grand Prairie-based air ambulance service company. According to CareFlite president and CEO Jim Swartz, “We haven’t had to deal with something of this magnitude—a death in our family—in over a quarter of a century… It is, to be very plain, our worst day.”
A helicopter pilot who worked at Quality Aircraft, located in the vicinity of the crash, departed in his chopper shortly after the accident to see what happened. Dennis Lauterbach Jr. stated, “From what you could see of the helicopter, what was left, there was nothing; there was no helicopter left. There was pretty much ashes.”
The chopper was purchased from Omniflight approximately three months prior to the wreck. The Addison-based company noted that the Bell 222 chopper was in “airworthy condition” when CareFlite bought the aircraft.
Officials from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) are expected to investigate the tragic medical helicopter accident.
Legal News Reporter: Sandra Quinlan- Legal News for Texas Aviation Accident Lawyers.
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