emsnetwork.org - Medical helicopter damaged while landing at scene - Arizona

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Medical helicopter damaged while landing at scene - Arizona

A medical helicopter called to an accident scene in Cave Creek

sustained damage in a hard landing. This is the latest in a series of

medical helicopter incidents in Arizona.

Maricopa County Sheriff’s Deputy Doug Matteson says deputies and

paramedics were called to East Cave Creek Road and North Basin Road

about 7:30 Sunday evening for a motorcycle accident. Arriving units

found the driver sustained a life-threatening head injury and

requested a medical helicopter.

An AirEvac chopper responded from Deer Valley Airport with a crew of

three. As the helicopter made its landing, it kicked up a cloud of

dust that obscured the crew's view of the ground. The aircraft made a

hard landing, damaging the helicopter.

The motorcycle driver was transported by ground ambulance. The

helicopter crew was not injured, but their chopper is unable to fly.

A collision between two medical choppers in Flagstaff last June

resulted in seven deaths.

Two days earlier, another medical helicopter crash near Ash Fork

injured three. The pilot in that crash claimed to have been blinded by

dust and thought he was climbing instead of landing