Investigators were trying to determine yesterday what caused Monday night's fatal crash of a civilian medical helicopter into the Potomac River, one of nearly a dozen accidents in the past year that have raised safety questions about such flights.
The pilot and paramedic on board the Air Methods Corp. helicopter died just after 11 p.m. after the crew dropped off a patient at Washington Hospital Center and were heading back to a home base in Stafford County. A nurse also aboard survived the accident, and investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board were hoping to interview him last night.
The crash was the second fatality in a week for Air Methods Corp., a public company based in Denver that operates the medical airlift service through a subsidiary, LifeNet. On Jan. 5, an Air Methods helicopter crashed in Tupelo, Miss., killing the pilot.
Safety officials said yesterday the crash highlights the large number of accidents involving air medical helicopters. The NTSB said there were 11 such accidents in the past 12 months. In 2003, there were 14 crashes, with eight fatalities, and in 2002, there were 14 accidents with 13 fatalities. Air medical companies operate 350,000 flights every year, according to the Association of Air Medical Services.
Medical helicopter crashes make up a significant portion of the total chopper crashes, the Federal Aviation Administration said. There were 171 crashes last year, with 31 deaths.
"We've been aware of the rising accident rate for these operations for some time," said FAA spokesman Les Dorr, who added that the FAA is working on regulations designed to improve safety.
Air Methods Chief Operating Officer Aaron D. Todd said the company is cooperating with safety investigators. "Our hearts go out to the families," Todd said. "We are very devoted to safe operating practices."
Investigators looking into Monday night's crash, which occurred just south of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, are trying to determine if the helicopter hit one of the nearby construction cranes, was hit by a bird or failed mechanically.
"It could be an operational failure, a mechanical failure," NTSB Chairman Ellen Engleman Conners said. "It could be the weather, it could be a bird strike. We're going to look at all the possibilities and eliminate them one by one."
Conners said investigators are reviewing a four-frame video that a traffic camera took from the Maryland side of the bridge. In the final frame, she said, an aircraft "appears to be losing altitude." An NTSB lab will technically enhance the video so investigators can learn more.
The NTSB also appeared to be focusing on the cranes being used in the $2.4 billion reconstruction of the bridge and nearby National Harbor construction. Although the owners have examined three of the cranes and reported finding no damage, safety inspectors will also examine them.
FAA rules require most cranes higher than 200 feet to be lighted, and all the cranes at the bridge higher than 200 feet -- and even some shorter -- had red warning lights on them that were operating, said John Undeland, a spokesman for the bridge project.
"There is no apparent evidence of physical damages," he said.
The pilot appeared to be following the normal path Monday night above the Potomac at a low altitude, as required by the FAA. The agency requires helicopters flying around Reagan National Airport to remain below 300 feet to avoid airport traffic.
"Operators are responsible for what we call terrain clearance," FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown said. The helicopter's pilot had been in contact with air traffic controllers at National's tower before the accident, she said.
Yesterday, recovery workers still were trying to find the pilot of the helicopter, Joseph E. Schaefer III, 56, of Sterling. His wife said that he has more than 4,000 hours of flight time, including two tours of duty in Vietnam.
The body of paramedic Nicole Kielar, 29, of Richmond, was recovered yesterday. The nurse, Jonathan Godfrey, was in fair condition at Washington Hospital Center.
The $4.5 million helicopter had been in service about a month and was based at Stafford Regional Airport, LifeNet officials said. The company opened its Stafford base about a year ago. Company officials said the helicopter was returning to Stafford after picking up a patient at Frederick Memorial Hospital and taking the patient to Washington Hospital Center.
One safety issue being studied by the FAA involves such long trips. The agency requires medical helicopter pilots to limit the number of hours they fly. But it counts only the number of hours with a patient on board, meaning that most of Monday night's flight time would not have been counted.
Staff writers Michelle Boorstein and Del Quentin Wilber and researchers Bobbye Pratt and Madonna Lebling contributed to this report.
