By John Dobberstein, Editor
Air Evac Lifeteam said 3 of its crew members died Saturday after one of its helicopters crashed near Hydro.
AEL said that at 11:23 p.m. AEL’s Operations Control Center lost contact with the aircraft, a Bell 206L3 with call sign N295AE. It was a 1991 7-seat unit registered to Air Evac EMS in O’Fallon, Mo.
Data from Flight Aware shows the helicopter took off successfully from Mercy Health Center Airport in Oklahoma City at 10:58 p.m., about 45 minutes after arriving from Anadarko Municipal Airport. The aircraft had been in the air about 25 minutes and traveling west-southwest at an altitude of 1,700 feet at about 125 mph.
The crew is based out of Weatherford and was returning to base after completing a patient care transport in Oklahoma City when the OCC lost contact with them. The crash occurred just east of Hydro.
Nearby AEL teams assisted local law enforcement with the search. The names of the crew members have not yet been released. The accident scene has been turned over to the National Transportation Safety Boards investigators.
renaye brison says
I pray for them an there family bless them all so sad, a trouble loss to all.