Federal investigators looking for the cause of a deadly medical helicopter crash said yesterday that initial data about the aircraft's path show that it flew 300 feet from the nearest crane.
Officials from the National Transportation Safety Board have been looking into the possibility that the helicopter, which crashed into the Potomac River on Monday night, hit a crane from the nearby Woodrow Wilson Bridge construction project. The NTSB inspected all five of the nearby cranes -- which range from 180 to 270 feet -- and found no damage or other evidence of a crash.
Maryland State Police divers walk away from the medical helicopter that crashed Monday into the Potomac River. Two of the three occupants died.
(Gerald Herbert -- AP)
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A statement from the NTSB said investigators mapped the helicopter's path using air traffic control radar and Global Positioning System data employed by the helicopter's owner, Air Methods Corp. of Denver. "The projected track along these locations toward the accident site is about 300 feet from the nearest crane," the statement said.
Paramedic Nicole Kielar, 29, of Henrico County, outside Richmond, and pilot Joseph E. Schaefer III, 56, of Sterling died when the helicopter crashed on its way to its base in Stafford County after dropping off a patient at Washington Hospital Center.
The NTSB was able to speak with the sole survivor, nurse Jonathan Godfrey, 36, of Chesapeake Beach, Va., who remained in fair condition at Washington Hospital Center. According to the statement, he "did not recall seeing or hearing any cockpit warning indications during the flight, nor did he recall any abrupt maneuvers or sudden pilot reactions as they flew over the bridge." When asked what he thought may have caused the crash, Godfrey said: "[M]y instincts tell me that we hit something," the NTSB statement said.
An initial look at the wreckage has not revealed any obvious mechanical problems, the NTSB said. Further examination of the helicopter is to be done today.
All three of the crash victims will be honored at 11 a.m. Tuesday at a public service in Spotswood Baptist Church in Spotsylvania County.
