Maryland Medical Helicopter That Crashed In Philadelphia Suburb Rolled After A 'Bang,' According To Preliminary NTSB Report
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- A Hagerstown-based medical helicopter transporting an infant girl to Philadelphia rolled, possibly multiple times, before going down in a hard landing in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania earlier this month, according to initial findings from the National Transportation Safety Board.
On Jan. 11, the medical helicopter left from Hagerstown, picked up a 2-month-old girl at a hospital in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania and departed for Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
A medic and nurse aboard the flight told investigators they heard a "bang" about 10 minutes outside of the children's hospital, and the helicopter banked into a right roll, according to the report.
"The medic said that the helicopter rolled inverted, perhaps multiple times, and that he and the nurse were 'pinned to the ceiling' and internal communication was lost," the report said. "The helicopter was leveled, the patient was secured, the crewmembers secured themselves in their seats, and they braced for landing."
Just before 1 p.m., the craft went down for a hard landing outside the Drexel Hill United Methodist Church church in the 600 block of Burmont Road.
All four passengers, including the patient, nurse, medic and pilot, suffered non-life threatening injuries in what town officials said was a "miracle."
A witness told investigators the helicopter was "very low and louder than normal" and said he thought the "tone" of the rotors was off, according to the report.
A second witness said the craft was "very low…very loud…banked right and left out of control, then appeared to straighten…" before disappearing from view, the report said.
Door-bell camera footage supplied to authorities shows the helicopter in a "near vertical, nose-down descent" before leveling out and disappearing behind a tree line. A "high-pitched whine" could be heard, according the report.
The owner of the helicopter, Air Methods, an air medical services operator with more than 300 bases across the country, told investigators the pilot, Danial Moore, had 4,123 total hours of flight experience, including 3,400 hours in helicopters. Of those, he had 185 hours in the Eurocopter EC135 medical helicopter, the same make and model in the hard landing.
Moore was released from the hospital on Jan. 16.
All major components of the aircraft were accounted for at the scene of the landing, the report said.
The wreckage was taken to a facility in Clayton, Delaware, for further inspection. Investigators determined the engine and transmission were still properly mounted.
"Data downloaded from each engine revealed nominal engine performance consistent with the mission profile across the duration of the flight," the report said.