A Flight for Life Colorado helicopter lifted off about 100 feet, jerked awkwardly then crashed into a parking lot near St. Anthony’s Summit Medical Center in Frisco on Friday afternoon, killing the pilot and injuring the other two on board — a flight paramedic and a flight nurse.
The Airbus AS350 chopper hit a parked pickup truck and travel camper that resulted in a massive fireball that engulfed the aircraft.
The survivors had “significant, but I believe, survivable injuries,” Jodie Taylor, the trauma medical director at the nearby hospital, said at a Friday evening news conference.
The pilot, 64-year-old Patrick Mahany of Silverthorne, died at the crash scene, authorities said.
Mahany had been a Flight for Life pilot since 1987. He served as a scout helicopter pilot in the Vietnam War in 1971 and was awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart.
He and his son, Ryan Mahany, were profiled in The Denver Post in 2009. The younger Mahany was a decorated Army pilot who flew missions in Afghanistan.
In that interview, Patrick Mahany said the medical staff aboard were the heroes in air-medical transport.
“They save the lives,” he said. “We’re just the ones who get them there and bring them home safely.”
He admitted to satisfaction, however.
“It’s very rewarding knowing you helped,” Patrick Mahany said. “As far as flying goes, there is nothing better than helping people.”
Mahany traveled to Austin, Texas, in May to attend a memorial for Kristin McLain, a flight nurse who died when she fell from a helicopter during a mission.
She was a native of Colorado Springs whose first air-ambulance job was as a rescue nurse for Flight for Life.
The cause of Friday’s crash was not immediately known. It is under investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board.
“(The copter) immediately had issues,” Omaha resident Jason Bogner, who witnessed the crash while biking nearby, told the Summit Daily News. “It was wobbly, unstable and pitched one way. It became uncontrollable and crashed all within 20 seconds.
Curt Weitkunat of Castle was with his sons in the nearby bike park at the time.
“We kind of heard it make noise, rev its engines and try to gain altitude,” he said, “and it started spiraling, kind of spinning.”
The bike path area near the hospital was littered with pieces of metal debris from the crash, the Summit Daily News reported.
The helicopter wasn’t on a medical assignment at the time of the crash, which occurred about 2:45 p.m.
The aircraft is owned by Air Methods, a Centennial Airport-based company that has air-medical transport operations in 48 states.
“We are deeply saddened by the news that our pilot was fatally injured, and our hearts go out to the pilot’s family,” Air Methods spokeswoman Christina Brodsly said in a statement. “The FAA and the NTSB have our full cooperation as they further investigate the accident.”
The fireball from the crash sent up a thick, black pillar of smoke. The flames spread to grass and pine trees, but crews from the Lake Dillon Fire-Rescue from Silverthorne, Red, White and Blue Fire Rescue from Breckenridge and the Copper Mountain Fire Department were able to contain the blaze in a matter of minutes, authorities said.
A hazardous-materials team was called in to clean up the fuels spilled in the crash.
“Our entire Summit County community is saddened today,” Taneil Ilano, a spokeswoman for the Summit County Sheriff’s Office, told the local newspaper. “Our hearts go out to the victims and their families.”
The last fatal air ambulance crash in Colorado was in October 2007, when a Black Hawk helicopter went down west of Alamosa, killing a paramedic and a nurse.
Joey Bunch: 303-954-1174, twitter.com/Joeybunch
