Two Lost, One Survives

Authorities in and around the nation's capital continued searching Tuesday for the body of a crewmember lost when a medical helicopter went down in the Potomac River, near the Woodrow Wilson Bridge. The aircraft, crashed late Monday night after a witness said the EC-135 was flying unusually low and may have hit something just before going down.

The Washington Post quoted Maryland State Police Sgt. Billy Dunston, who was patrolling in the area. He told television interviewers that he "observed a helicopter flying unusually low past the construction equipment," near the bridge. "I didn't think anything of it until a citizen advised me that a helicopter had crashed into the water," he said.

With the help of that witness, Dunston and other rescuers were able to pinpoint the location where the EC-135 went into the water.

Searchers spotted one person clinging to the tail boom of the helicopter as it bobbed in the water. They were able to rescue Flight Nurse Jonathan Godfrey. But the other two people on board -- pilot Joseph Schaeffer and Paramedic Nichole Kielar -- didn't survive, according to authorities. After searching the river near the crash site, authorities recovered Kielar's body. Schaeffer's body had not yet been recovered as of late Tuesday afternoon.

There was no immediate indication as to what caused the accident. But the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, which spans the Maryland and Virginia shores at the southern tip of the District of Columbia, is being rebuilt. There are several large cranes near the bridge.

Medical helicopters generally follow the Potomac River into and out of Washington at altitudes of 300 feet AGL or less. That way, they can avoid traffic from Reagan National Airport while reducing the impact of noise on the capital's upscale neighborhoods.

At a Tuesday news conference, NTSB Chairwoman Ellen Engleman Conners said the aircraft was owned by Air Methods of Denver, CO, and had been in operation for less than a month. She told reporters in Washington that there's been a spike in the number of accidents involving medical aircraft -- this was the eleventh in the past year.

FAA Preliminary Accident Report

IDENTIFICATION
 Regis#: 136LN    Make/Model: EC35   Description: EC-135 (file photo of type, above)
 Date: 01/10/2005   Time: 1104

 Event Type: Accident  Highest Injury: Fatal   Mid Air: N  Missing: N
 Damage: Unknown

LOCATION
 City: WASHINGTON         State: DC  Country: US

DESCRIPTION
 ACFT, A EUROCOPTER CRASHED INTO THE POTOMAC RIVER, JUST SOUTH OF THE
 WOODROW WILSON BRIDGE. ACFT HAD JUST DROPPED OFF A PATIENT AT WASHINGTON
 HOSPITAL CENTER. TWO ARE REPORTED FATAL AND ONE SERIOUS, AND UNKNOWN
 DAMAGE. WASHINGTON, DC

INJURY DATA   Total Fatal:  2
         # Crew:  3  Fat:  2   Ser:  1   Min:  0   Unk:  0
         # Pass:   0  Fat:  0   Ser:  0   Min:  0   Unk:  0
         # Grnd:       Fat:  0   Ser:  0   Min:  0   Unk:  0

WEATHER: NOT REPORTED                               

OTHER DATA
 Activity: Air Ambulance   Phase: Cruise   Operation: General Aviation

 Departed: WASHINGTON, DC       Dep Date: 01/10/2005  Dep. Time:  
 Destination: FREDERICKSBURG, VA    Flt Plan: NONE     Wx Briefing: U
 Last Radio Cont:
 Last Clearance:

 FAA FSDO: WASHINGTON IAD, DC (EA27)      Entry date: 01/11/2005

FMI: www.ntsb.gov