WILSON COUNTY, Tenn. — Federal investigators are evaluating evidence from the LifeFlight helicopter crash that killed one and injured two others.
The question remains: What cause the chopper to suddenly go down?
The safety requirements for medical evacuation helicopters like LifeFlight are among the most stringent in the industry.
Crashes happen, but they are rare.
So what happened ?
What we know is the Vanderbilt LifeFlight One helicpoter left it's base at Sumner County EMA at 1:33 p-m Saturday.
The weather was clear -- sunny skies and no wind.
Flight Aware Aviation tracking shows that not long after takeoff the helicopter reversed course to return to base and crashed eight minutes after it took off.
"Me and my husband were out of the deck and we seen this helicopter coming over the trees," said witness Elaine Burchett.
Neighbors in the area are accustomed to seeing LifeFlight on missions from the Gallatin base and this helicopter was flying unusually low.
" It was real loud...we looked for it. It was behind the trees so loud and then here it came over the trees...you knew it was in trouble. We knew," said Burchett.
It does appear part of the tree tops were sheered off by the helicopter as it barely passed over the ridge just moments before crashing in the field beyond with three people onboard.
Flight Nurse/Paramedic Allan Williams did not survive. Critical Care Flight Paramedic Andrew “Andy” Sikes and the pilot, whose family requested privacy, were seriously injured and remain hospitalized.
There was a procession of law enforcement and others honoring Williams as his body was taken from the Medical Examiner's officer to a funeral home in Williamson County.
The shattered LifeFlight helicopter remains in that Wilson County field now two days after the crash.
Both the FAA and NTSB are on scene and in charge of the investigation.
The question: What caused the helicopter to crash just a few minutes into the flight?
Investigators will consider all possibilities from mechanical failure to a mid-air emergency to a possible issue with the pilot.
A preliminary report may come in a few weeks.
There typically are not black box recorders on helicopters, but NTSB will review recorded flight data from onboard cameras.
And, of course, they will be interviewing the surviving crew when they are able.
Do you have more information about this story? You can email me at nick.beres@newschannel5.com
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