Three injured in CareFlite heli crash
An A109 E medical helicopter operated by CareFlite of Grand Prairie, Texas, US, crashed with three crew onboard on 30 September as it flew to pick up a patient from Eastland Municipal Airport. The crew members all suffered injuries described by CareFlite chief executive officer and president Jim Swartz as ‘minor to moderate’, but not life threatening.
An A109 E medical helicopter operated by CareFlite of Grand Prairie, Texas, US, crashed with three crew onboard on 30 September as it flew to pick up a patient from Eastland Municipal Airport. The crew members all suffered injuries described by CareFlite chief executive officer and president Jim Swartz as ‘minor to moderate’, but not life threatening.
According to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which has launched an investigation into the accident, the helicopter (tail number N144CF) impacted terrain at 10:30 hrs around six miles south of the airport. Swartz described the incident as a ‘hard landing’, adding that the cause of the crash was unknown but that a full investigation would be carried out. Photographs of the crash site show the helicopter cabin lying on its side with the tail boom close to, but separated from, the main fuselage.
The crew members, pilot Scott Wallace and medics Teresa Campbell and Rhett Drahen, were described by Swartz as ‘experienced’. They were taken from the crash site to a hospital in Eastland by ground ambulance, said a Department of Public Safety spokesperson.
Image: library image of a CareFlite A109 (CareFlite)