AURORA, Ill. (WBBM/CBS 2) -- A medical helicopter headed to Children's Memorial Hospital crashed into a forest preserve in Aurora overnight, killing the three crewmembers on board and their patient, a 14-month-old girl.
WBBM's John Cody Attended NTSB Briefing.
WBBM's Steve Miller Speaks With Family Member.
As CBS 2's Joanie Lum reports, the chopper crashed after clipping a guy wire that was supporting a radio tower nearby before crashing, and investigators are trying to figure out why it happened.
The helicopter was headed for Children's Memorial Hospital from Valley West Hospital in Sandwich when it went down around midnight, said Aurora police spokesman Sgt. Robb Wallers. Aurora firefighters found the helicopter in the Night Heron Marsh Forest Preserve on Eola road just north of Liberty Street, fully engulfed in flames, Wallers said.
He said police and fire officials learned of the crash around midnight.
The helicopter belonged to Air Angels Inc., an emergency medical transport service based at Clow Airport in southwest suburban Bolingbrook.
Rescue crews went to check if anyone was alive in the wreckage, and the found the four deceased victims, including three crew members and the little girl, Wallers said.
"The impact was tremendous. The debris is scattered over that area that I explained is 75 to 100 feet," said Aurora Assistant Fire Chief John Lehman, "and so there really is no aircraft left."
Children's Memorial Hospital spokeswoman Julie Pesch initially said the child was being transported to the hospital because of epileptic seizures. She later said she could not reveal the reason for the transport because of privacy rules.
But the girl's family friends said she had been suffering seizures since she was 5 months old, and had been to the emergency room numerous times. The seizure she suffered Wednesday night was the most severe ever, family friends said.
Pesch said the child was en route to the Chicago hospital after a closer hospital indicated there was no room for her there.
"Our Pediatric Intensive Care Unit was full last night," said Amy Jo Steinbruecker, spokeswoman at Central DuPage Hospital in Winfield, which is about 20 miles closer to Sandwich than Chicago.
The crash occurred before the helicopter would have reached either hospital.
The young girl was identified as Kirstian Blockinger, of the LaSalle County village of Leland. The members of the Air Angels crew that died were: nurse William Mann, 31, of Chicago; pilot Dell Waugh, 69, of Carmel, Ind., and paramedic Ronald Battiato, 41, of Peotone.
The National Air Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration are conducting the investigation into the crash with Aurora police, he said.
In their investigation, the National Transportation Safety Board is trying to determine why the chopper ended up so low, under 750 feet. They have not concluded whether there was a mechanical problem or an emergency on board. A safety investigator was expected to debrief reporters later Thursday.
The crash site is in the residential area, across the street from a radio station with a tower nearly 700 feet tall. Officials believe the helicopter may have clipped one of the guy wires that support the tower before crashing.
A snapped wire could be seen hanging from the 734-foot tower that stands across a busy road from the crash site.
NTSB spokesman John Brannen said the helicopter was flying about 50 feet below the top of the tower when the wire was clipped. He said NTSB was investigating whether lights on the tower were on at the time or could have been knocked out during the incident.
"I can say that when I was out here last night after the accident that the lights on the tower were not lit," Brannen said Thursday.
"The focus at this point is on the wreckage, and we'll be looking into the wreckage over the next few days, and then the focus of the investigation will also shift to other areas of interest, such as possible weather conditions that were present at the time of the accident, pilot backgrounds, their experience levels, looking into the helicopter operator, different things of that nature," Brannen said.
There were reports of one or two explosions before the helicopter crashed, and witnesses said they thought the helicopter struck the radio tower.
"I saw an orange arc from the antenna here that's normally lit behind us, but it's not now, and at that point I saw an orange fireball which illuminated an aircraft, and then it exploded and landed here in the field," said witness Mike Maddox.
Authorities noted the helicopter was flying lower than the radio station tower, which is 690 feet tall, according to station officials. WBIG has been pulled off the air, according to station President Rick Jakle and General Manager Steve Marten.
The crash appears to have knocked the tower slightly off center, and stability has become an issue with the damage to the guy wires, Lehman said. For that reason, 16 nearby homes were evacuated, he said.
Structural engineers have been sent to examine the radio tower, Lehman said.
In addition, a large amount of helicopter fuel has been left behind at the site, Lehman said.
Lehman expressed personal grief on behalf firefighters.
"It's a very heartfelt situation for the fire department," Lehman said. "We've worked closely with these air ambulance companies, and we've had direct interaction with the Air Angels itself, so some of our personnel actually know these people."
Children's Memorial Hospital said in a statement that they are suspending any further transports from the Air Angels "pending further investigation."
"Words cannot express the loss being suffered by the families of this child and the crew members," Children's Memorial said in the statement. "We hold them in our thoughts and prayers."
Air Angels Director of Business Development Mike Dermont said the Bell 222 helicopter that crashed had been in service for about eight years.
"We do approximately 40 to 50 transports a month with that aircraft," Dermont said. "It's been a workhorse. We've had no issue with it whatsoever."
The crew on the helicopter included one pilot, one paramedic and a registered nurse on board chopper, Dermont said. The paramedics and registered nurses are employees of Air Angels who work 24 hours and then have three days off. Some of the nurses work at hospitals on those days off and the paramedics work at fire stations on their days off, Dermont said.
The pilots work 12-hour shifts for 7 days and then have 7 days off, Dermont said.
Dermont said he knew all the members of the crew personally.
"We're a very tight family at Air Angels, and I can say it's devastating," he said.
Air Angels Chief Executive Officer Jim Adams said in a statement: "We extend our deepest sympathies to the families and friends of the patient and our crew. Air Angels is working with the National Transportation Safety Board and FAA to investigate the cause of the accident and we will provide more information as it becomes available. Air Angels has more than 10 years experience of community-based, critical care transport experience and has cared for thousands of patients by providing life saving services throughout Illinois, Indiana and surrounding states."
This was the ninth medical helicopter to crash in the United States in the past year, and it was not the first for the Air Angels.
On Aug. 4, 2007, an Air Angels rescue helicopter was forced to make an emergency landing in unincorporated Sugar Grove. The chopper was on fire, but the crew was able to walk away from the scene.
On Jan. 29, 2003, a pilot was killed when his chopper crashed in DuPage County. The investigation determined that pilot error caused the crash, but said weather was also a factor.
Contents of this site are Copyright 2008 by WBBM. CBS 2 contributed to this report.
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