Halo-Flight takes to the skies again, 2 days after crash

January 9, 2002

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HALO-Flight takes to the skies again, 2 days after crash

By J.R.

HALO-Flight took to the skies again Monday as medical crews

transported a Kingsville accident victim, two days after their helicopter crash

landed south of Beeville.

The investigation into Saturday night's crash, the first in

HALO-Flight's 14-year history, is continuing, a spokesman for the Federal

Aviation Administration said.

Joanne Salge, HALO-Flight funding director, said the downed

helicopter, a medically refitted Bell 206 L-1 model, was leased from Houston

Helicopters Inc., which has provided a replacement helicopter.

Members of the helicopter's medical crew said their 1,400-foot

drop from the sky was rapid.

" Our engine quit, " said Randy Rowe, flight paramedic

supervisor.

Pilot Caldwell turned the helicopter into the wind to

slow it down, but much of the landing was out of their hands, Caldwell said.

" We were very fortunate, " he said. " We missed some jagged old

trees. "

He added that the chance of escaping uninjured from such a

landing is slim.

The medical team was transporting a critically injured burn

patient to Corpus Christi at about 8:30 p.m. and was about four minutes outside

Beeville, near the McConnell Unit, a maximum security prison, when the crash

occurred.

Mike Padron, a flight paramedic, said he didn't have much time

to think in the 10 to 15 seconds it took for the helicopter to crash.

While Padron and Caldwell waited with the patient, Rowe

trekked into the brush, where he found some hunters who witnessed the crash.

" If it hadn't been for those boys out there hunting, it

probably would have taken a lot longer to find us, " Rowe said.

A medical transport helicopter from San flew the crew

and patient to Corpus Christi.

Padron said the safety training they receive every six months

kept them and their patient from further injuries.

The burn victim, whose name was not released, was still listed

in critical condition Monday at Christus Spohn Hospital Memorial with burns on

40 percent of her body. Padron said the patient was medicated and on a

ventilator at the time of the crash.

" I don't even think she knows she was in a helicopter crash, "

he said.

Caldwell and Padron said the incident hasn't soured them on

flying. Despite fatal medical helicopter crashes in recent years, Padron says

that kind of risk comes with the job.

Salge said HALO-Flight has ordered a $1.9 million Bell 407

helicopter, which is a bit larger and faster than the wrecked aircraft.

Contact J.R. at 886-3779 or by e-mail at

gonzalesj@...

January 8, 2002

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