3 people killed after medical helicopter crashes in Kentucky

Three people were killed Monday evening when a medical helicopter crashed in Owen County.

All three victims were crew members with Air Evac Lifeteam Base 133, the company said in a statement. The crew was based in nearby Grant County and was headed to a scene to pick up a patient when it crashed.

“This was a terribly tragic accident, and our deepest sympathies go out to the employees’ families and friends,” AEL said in a statement.

Kentucky State Police identified the victims as Gale Alleman, Bethany Aicken and James Welsh. They were pronounced dead at the scene by the Owen County coroner, state police said in a news release.

The crash happened just after 5:30 p.m. near State Route 22, about two miles north of Owen County High School.

A preliminary report by the Federal Aviation Administration indicates that the Bell 206L-3 helicopter hit a guy wire and crashed, resulting in a fire. One flight crew member and two cabin crew members were on board, the FAA reported.

The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the crash.

Brian Rayner, senior air safety investigator with the NTSB, told media at the scene Tuesday afternoon that the helicopter was in Owenton to pick up a cardiac patient, WKYT reported.

He said the pilot was circling while waiting for people to get in place in the landing zone when witnesses said they saw the helicopter hit a guy wire before crashing.

The rotor assembly separated from the body of the aircraft, Rayner said.

The cable the helicopter is thought to have hit was about 1.5 inches in diameter and is “a known hazard,” Rayner said.

Todd Piccirilli, senior director of marketing and communications for KET, said KET was notified by state police Tuesday night that a helicopter had crashed near its transmission tower in Owenton.

He said the station will cooperate with the NTSB and FAA investigations.

“We are aware, based on story the Herald-Leader posted, of the FAA’s preliminary report indicating that the aircraft struck a guy wire. We have contacted a structural engineering firm to inspect the KET tower and its guy wires,” Piccirilli said in a statement Tuesday afternoon.

Witnesses and people who have surveillance video or other relevant information were asked to contact the NTSB at witness@ntsb.gov.

Rayner described the pilot as an “extremely experienced airman” who had 17,000 hours of flight experience when he was hired by Air Evac Lifeteam six years ago.

He said he has heard the patient who was waiting to be picked up by the air ambulance is doing well.

The NTSB said it will look at “radar data, weather information, maintenance records and the pilot’s medical records” as part of the investigation, which takes into consideration human, environmental and mechanical factors.

A preliminary NTSB report is expected within 30 days, but a final report with probable cause and contributing factors in the crash could take 12 to 24 months, according to the NTSB.

Owen County is about 50 miles northwest of Lexington.

The crash marked at least the fourth in Kentucky involving medical helicopters in the past 25 years.

In June 2013, three people were killed when a medical helicopter operated by Air Evac Lifeteam crashed into a school parking lot in Manchester less than 1,000 feet from the helipad where the aircraft was based.

The crew had flown a patient to St. Joseph Hospital in London and was returning to base.

Those killed in the crash were pilot Eddy Sizemore, 61, who had been a longtime Laurel County sheriff’s deputy; flight paramedic Herman “Lee” Dobbs, 40, of London; and flight nurse Jesse Jones, 28, of Pineville.

The NTSB later concluded the probable cause of the crash was that the pilot became disoriented after unexpectedly flying into fog. Sizemore likely made a maneuver that placed too much stress on the helicopter, which broke apart in-flight, according to interviews and the federal report.

In June 1999, an air ambulance operated by the University of Kentucky crashed into the side of a steep hill in Breathitt County during dense fog, killing all four people aboard.

Those who died were pilots Ernest L. Jones Jr., 48, of Oakwood Village, Ohio and Don Greene, 46, of Somerset; flight nurse Sheila Zellers, 43, of Elizabethtown; and paramedic Brian Harden, 31, of Richmond. The crash happened as the crew was returning to UK from the Jackson Airport. There were no patients on board.

The National Transportation Safety Board cited miscommunication between the pilots as the probable cause of the accident, with fog and darkness as factors as well. However, a jury in federal court later ruled that the vertical gyroscope on the helicopter was defective.

Last year, nine soldiers died when two Black Hawk helicopters crashed during training at Fort Campbell. The helicopters involved were outfitted as medical helicopters, but it was not immediately clear whether they were practicing air evacuations.

An Air Evac Lifeteam pilot pleaded guilty in December to a federal charge of operating an air common carrier while under the influence of alcohol, after he temporarily became unresponsive during a helicopter flight from Corbin to Lexington and was later found to have a blood alcohol level of 0.35%. The crew convinced him to land at the Central Kentucky Regional Airport in Richmond, and no one was injured.

This story was originally published October 7, 2024 at 10:19 PM.