Air ambulance crash lands in Philadelphia

An EC135 air ambulance helicopter owned by HEMS provider Air Methods crash landed in a residential suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 12 January. All four individuals aboard have reportedly survived.

Rescue crews reached the crash site, next to Drexel Hill United Methodist Church in Upper Darby, at around 13.00 EST, and were able to extract the pilot, two crew members and an infant patient from the wreckage. Both patient and crew are reportedly receiving medical evaluation.

The aircraft, which is part of the LifeNet program based in Hagerstown, Maryland, had reportedly been experiencing mechanical problems during the flight, according to early reports by county officials and the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency.

An investigation of the incident by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is now underway.

In a statement released following the incident, Air Methods Vice President of Communications Doug Flanders said: “The FAA and NTSB have been made aware of this incident and investigators are enroute to assess the situation. Our team will cooperate fully with their efforts to assess the cause of this unfortunate accident.”

The incident follows the tragic crash of a Aeromedevac Learjet 35 near San Diego, California, on 27 December 2021, which claimed the lives of all four crew members on board.

Another crash, involving a firefighting helicopter in Neuquén Province, Argentina, on 29 December, also resulted in two fatalities.