Medical helicopter a total loss after striking hangar
Santa Fe-AP) – A privately funded medical emergency helicopter, already embattled by stiff competition from UNMH hospital’s helicopter, has been declared a total loss after its rotor blades struck an airport hangar on Saturday.
Life Rescue president Will Ashcroft says the $3 million twin-engine Dauphin, called Angel One, sliced into a steel hangar door with its four rotor blades at around 4 p.m..
State Police Lieutenant Robert Shilling says the mishap apparently occurred when the helicopter, taxiing on the ground toward a parking place inside the hangar, made too sharp a turn.
Pilot Malcolm Pearson was not injured and immediately offered himself for a drug test. Ashcroft says the test appears to be negative, but that final results are pending.
Pearson was the only person aboard at the time of the incident.
Life Rescue carries trauma patients primarily to St. Vincent Hospital but often flew to other hospitals in New Mexico and southern Colorado.
The incident comes shortly after the company accused UNM Hospital of putting patients lives at risk in order to advance its own helicopter service. UNM has denied the allegations, which are being reviewed by a state regulatory agency.
Pearson’s record was unblemished until Saturday according to Ashcroft.
The company plans to purchase another helicopter within two months.
KRQE News