Three Believed Dead After Medevac Copter Goes Down Near Seattle | Aero-News Network
Aero-News Network
RSS icon RSS feed
podcast icon MP3 podcast
Subscribe Aero-News e-mail Newsletter Subscribe

Airborne Unlimited -- Most Recent Daily Episodes

Episode Date

Airborne-Monday

Airborne-Tuesday

Airborne-Wednesday Airborne-Thursday

Airborne-Friday

Airborne On YouTube

Airborne-Unlimited-12.01.25

AirborneNextGen-
11.18.25

Airborne-Unlimited-11.19.25

Airborne-AffordableFlyers-11.20.25

AirborneUnlimited-11.21.25

LIVE MOSAIC Town Hall (Archived): www.airborne-live.net

Sun, Oct 02, 2005

Three Believed Dead After Medevac Copter Goes Down Near Seattle

Pilot Had Survived Another Accident In 2002

Coast Guard rescue crews searching the waters off the coast near Seattle, WA have located debris from a Agusta A109/Mk II medevac copter (file photo of type, below) that went down Thursday night as it was returning to base after dropping off a passenger at a nearby hospital.

The three crew members onboard the copter are believed dead, according to media reports, including the pilot who barely survived another helicopter accident three years ago.

No one saw the AirLift Northwest helicopter go down at approximately 9:30 pm Thursday, although one witness called 911 to report a helicopter fly over near the accident site. The witness said "shortly after that [the helicopter] sounded 'funny' and then they heard an explosion," said Edmonds, WA police Sgt. Jeff Jones told reporters.

The pilot, 59-year-old Steve Smith, did not make a distress call before the helicopter dropped off of radar. A representative for AirLift Northwest stated Smith had last contacted the company dispatcher at 9:14 pm Thursday evening, approximately ten minutes before the helicopter went down.

Also onboard "Airlift 4" were flight nurses Erin Reed, 48, and Lois Suzuki, 47. All three were employed with AirLift Northwest, and were returning to Arlington Airport after dropping off a patient at a local hospital.

According to the NTSB, Thursday's accident was the third involving an AirLift Northwest A109/Mk II since 1995. A September 11, 1995 accident also claimed the life of a pilot and two nurses when their helicopter went down near the site of Thursday's accident. The NTSB states the pilot in that accident failed to maintain sufficient altitude over the water.

Smith barely survived a 2002 crash, when the helicopter he was flying alone experienced engine failure. He suffered serious injuries in that accident, including a torn cardial artery, a broken back and fractured ribs.

David Baker, acting medical director for emergency services at Seattle's Harborview Medical Center, said everyone at the hospital respected the work the medevac paramedics performed. "In some ways, flight nurses have to have the skills of a paramedic, the knowledge of a critical care nurse and the judgment of an emergency room physician," he said at a news conference.

Investigators asked anyone who may find wreckage from the Thursday accident washed up on the shore to contact local authorities immediately -- and not to jump to any conclusions.

"I'm not going to comment on what the cause might or might not be," said NTSB Investigator Georgia Struhsaker. "It's just way too early for that. I know people always want to ask, but we're just getting started with the investigation."

FMI: www.airliftnw.org; www.ntsb.gov

Advertisement

More News

ANN's Daily Aero-Term (11.29.25): Waypoint

Waypoint A predetermined geographical position used for route/instrument approach definition, progress reports, published VFR routes, visual reporting points or points for transiti>[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (11.29.25)

Aero Linx: Sentimental Journey to Cub Haven Sentimental Journey Flyin began in 1986 with a group of dedicated volunteers working to provide a sentimental return to Lock Haven, the >[...]

NTSB Prelim: Jabiru USA Sport Aircraft LLC J230-SP

The Pilot Would Often Fly Over Their House At A Low Altitude And That Family Members Would Go Outside To Wave On November 14, 2025, at 1708 eastern standard time, a Jabiru USA Spor>[...]

Classic Aero-TV: Crafting The Future of eVTOL Infrastructure

From 2024 (YouTube Edition): Volatus Infrastructure Paves The Way The name “Volatus” seems to be everywhere these days, popping up in a series of partnerships and proje>[...]

Klyde Morris (11.28.25)

Fortnite Conquers All, Klyde FMI: www.klydemorris.com>[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Advertisement

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2025 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC


Debugging Information
ColdFusion Server Enterprise 2023,0,16,330828
Template /emailarticle.cfm
Time Stamp 02-Dec-25 06:05 AM
Locale English (US)
User Agent Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; ClaudeBot/1.0; +claudebot@anthropic.com)
Remote IP 10.0.20.1
Host Name 10.0.20.1


Execution Time

Total Time Avg Time Count Template
54 ms 54 ms 1 CFC[ C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/Application.cfc | onRequest(/emailarticle.cfm) ] from C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/Application.cfc
53 ms 53 ms 1 C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/parsed/main.textpost.cfm
30 ms 30 ms 1 C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/model/main/actTextPost.cfm
4 ms 4 ms 1 C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/model/main/actWidgets.cfm
4 ms 4 ms 1 C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/view/layout/dspWidgets.cfm
4 ms 4 ms 1 CFC[ C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/Application.cfc | onRequestStart(/emailarticle.cfm) ] from C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/Application.cfc
2 ms 2 ms 1 C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/model/main/qryTextPost.cfm
2 ms 2 ms 1 C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/view/display/dspTextPost.cfm
2 ms 2 ms 1 C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/view/layout/dspBannerAds.cfm
1 ms 1 ms 1 C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/fusebox.init.cfm
1 ms 1 ms 1 C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/model/main/qryNewscats.cfm
1 ms 1 ms 1 C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/model/main/qryWidVideo.cfm
1 ms 1 ms 1 C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/view/layout/widgets/widget_234BannerZone.cfm
1 ms 1 ms 1 CFC[ C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/Application.cfc | onRequestEnd(/emailarticle.cfm) ] from C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/Application.cfc
1 ms 1 ms 1 CFC[ C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/fb551/fusebox5/fuseboxApplication.cfc | compileRequest(main.textpost, CFC: fckeditor.fb551.fusebox5.myFusebox) ] from C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/fb551/fusebox5/fuseboxApplication.cfc
1 ms 1 ms 1 CFC[ C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/fb551/fusebox5/myFusebox.cfc | init(fusebox, [complex value], [complex value]) ] from C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/fb551/fusebox5/myFusebox.cfc
0 ms 0 ms 1 C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/CustomTags/bph/QuerySim.cfm
0 ms 0 ms 1 C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/cftags/sharelinks.cfm
0 ms 0 ms 1 C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/model/comments/actDisqus.cfm
0 ms 0 ms 1 C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/model/main/actFooter.cfm
0 ms 0 ms 1 C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/model/main/qryAnnouncements.cfm
0 ms 0 ms 1 C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/model/main/qryAudio.cfm
0 ms 0 ms 1 C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/view/comments/dspDisqus.cfm
0 ms 0 ms 1 C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/view/display/dspAnnouncements.cfm
0 ms 0 ms 1 C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/view/layout/dspNewscats.cfm
0 ms 0 ms 1 C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/view/layout/dspSidebar.cfm
0 ms 0 ms 1 C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/view/layout/layAnnNew.cfm
0 ms 0 ms 1 C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/view/layout/widgets/widget_admin.cfm
0 ms 0 ms 1 C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/view/layout/widgets/widget_flashAd.cfm
0 ms 0 ms 1 C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/view/layout/widgets/widget_podcasts.cfm
0 ms 0 ms 1 C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/view/layout/widgets/widget_search.cfm
0 ms 0 ms 1 C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/view/layout/widgets/widget_today.cfm
0 ms 0 ms 1 C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/view/layout/widgets/widget_topvideos.cfm
0 ms 0 ms 13 CFC[ C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/components/utils.cfc | RandomNumber() ] from C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/components/utils.cfc
0 ms 0 ms 1 CFC[ C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/components/utils.cfc | tagstripper(<h2>Pilot Had Survived Another Accident In 2002</h2>

Coast Guard rescue crews searching the waters off the coast near Seattle, WA have located debris from a Agusta A109/Mk II medevac helicopter&nbsp;that went down Thursday night as it was returning to base after dropping off a passenger at a nearby hospital.

) ] from C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/components/utils.cfc
0 ms 0 ms 1 CFC[ C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/fb551/fusebox5/fuseboxAction.cfc | getAccess() ] from C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/fb551/fusebox5/fuseboxAction.cfc
0 ms 0 ms 1 CFC[ C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/fb551/fusebox5/fuseboxApplication.cfc | expandFuseboxPath(parsed/) ] from C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/fb551/fusebox5/fuseboxApplication.cfc
0 ms 0 ms 2 CFC[ C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/fb551/fusebox5/fuseboxApplication.cfc | getCoreToAppRootPath() ] from C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/fb551/fusebox5/fuseboxApplication.cfc
0 ms 0 ms 1 CFC[ C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/fb551/fusebox5/fuseboxApplication.cfc | getVersion() ] from C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/fb551/fusebox5/fuseboxApplication.cfc
0 ms 0 ms 1 CFC[ C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/fb551/fusebox5/fuseboxEvent.cfc | init([complex value], [complex value], CFC: fckeditor.fb551.fusebox5.myFusebox) ] from C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/fb551/fusebox5/fuseboxEvent.cfc
0 ms 0 ms 2 CFC[ C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/fb551/fusebox5/myFusebox.cfc | getMyself() ] from C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/fb551/fusebox5/myFusebox.cfc
0 ms 0 ms 1 CFC[ C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/fb551/fusebox5/myFusebox.cfc | getSelf() ] from C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/fb551/fusebox5/myFusebox.cfc
0 ms 0 ms 1 CFC[ C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/fb551/fusebox5/myFusebox.cfc | trace(Fusebox, Request completed) ] from C:/inetpub/wwwroot/clients/aero-news.net/fb551/fusebox5/myFusebox.cfc
2 ms  STARTUP, PARSING, COMPILING, LOADING, & SHUTDOWN
61 ms  TOTAL EXECUTION TIME
red = over 250 ms average execution time


SQL Queries

post (Datasource=AeroNews, Time=1ms, Records=1) in C:\inetpub\wwwroot\clients\aero-news.net\model\main\qryTextPost.cfm @ 06:05:41.041
SELECT
	cb.ContentBlockID as id,
	cb.ContentBlockName as title,
	cb.Display,
	ct.DisplayTemplate,
	cb.HTMLContent as description,
	cb.ForumCode,
	cb.Icon,
	convert(varchar(20), cb.Display, 111) AS GroupDate,
	t.TeaserText as teaser,
	cb.SortOrder
FROM
	vwContentBlock cb INNER JOIN ContentType ct
	ON cb.ContentTypeCode = ct.ContentTypeCode
	LEFT OUTER JOIN Teaser t
	ON cb.ContentBlockID = t.ContentBlockID AND t.TeaserType <> 'L'
WHERE
	cb.ContentBlockID = ?
	AND Status IN ('60','80') AND (Display <{ts '2025-12-02 06:05:41'} OR Display IS NULL)
Query Parameter Value(s) -
Parameter #1(CF_SQL_varchar) = 6929BF56-7635-461B-A9B5-C901D6AC65ED

GetAnnouncements (Datasource=AeroNews, Time=0ms, Records=1, Cached Query) in C:\inetpub\wwwroot\clients\aero-news.net\model\main\qryAnnouncements.cfm @ 06:05:41.041
SELECT HTMLContent
FROM ContentBlockLive
WHERE ContentBlockKey = 'ANNOUNCE' 
	AND Status = 60 
	AND ((Display <{ts '2025-12-02 06:00:00'} OR Display IS NULL) 
	AND (Expire > {ts '2025-12-02 06:00:00'} OR Expire IS NULL))
qryAudio (Datasource=AeroNews, Time=0ms, Records=0, Cached Query) in C:\inetpub\wwwroot\clients\aero-news.net\model\main\qryAudio.cfm @ 06:05:41.041
SELECT NewID() as id,
	CAST(episodesid AS VARCHAR(38)) as myid,
	title,
	CAST(subtitle  AS Varchar(800)) as teaser, 
	CAST(summary AS Varchar(2000)) as description,
	ApprovedDate as published,
	episodefile as filelocation, 
	podcastsid as categoryid,
	CAST('audio' AS char(8)) as mytype,
	ApprovedDate as GroupDate,
	SPACE(2) AS previewimage,
	0 AS sortorder
FROM episodes
	WHERE Approved = 1 
		
	AND ApprovedDate <{ts '2025-12-02 06:00:00'} ANd ApprovedDate > {ts '2025-11-28 06:00:00'} 

Order By published DESC, sortorder DESC
qryWidVideo (Datasource=AeroNews, Time=0ms, Records=3, Cached Query) in C:\inetpub\wwwroot\clients\aero-news.net\model\main\qryWidVideo.cfm @ 06:05:41.041
SELECT TOP 3
videoId as id, 
	convert(varchar(38), videoId) as myid, 
	title, 
	CAST(description AS Varchar(2000)) as description, 
	Cast(teaser AS Varchar(800))as teaser,
	published,
	filelocation, 
	categoryid,
	CAST('video' AS char(8)) as mytype,
	published as GroupDate,
	previewimage,
	0 AS sortorder
	
FROM Videos
WHERE active = 1 AND approved = 1 AND published <{ts '2025-12-02 06:00:00'} 
ORDER BY published DESC
widgetsorted (Datasource=, Time=3ms, Records=6) in C:\inetpub\wwwroot\clients\aero-news.net\model\main\actWidgets.cfm @ 06:05:41.041
SELECT *
	FROM qryWidgets
	WHERE wname IN('flashAd','today','search','podcasts','topvideos','adsection234')
	ORDER By sortorder
NewsCategories (Datasource=AeroNews, Time=0ms, Records=7, Cached Query) in C:\inetpub\wwwroot\clients\aero-news.net\model\main\qryNewscats.cfm @ 06:05:41.041
SELECT 
			ContentTypeName, ContentTypeCode
		FROM ContentType 
		WHERE CategoryCode = 'NEWS' AND CONTENTTYPECODE <> 'ATRVNW'
		ORDER BY ContentTypeName
NewsCategories2 (Datasource=AeroNews, Time=0ms, Records=8, Cached Query) in C:\inetpub\wwwroot\clients\aero-news.net\model\main\qryNewscats.cfm @ 06:05:41.041
SELECT 
			ContentTypeName, ContentTypeCode
		FROM ContentType 
		WHERE CategoryCode = 'NEWS'
		ORDER BY ContentTypeName


Scope Variables

CGI Variables:
AUTH_PASSWORD=
AUTH_TYPE=
AUTH_USER=
CERT_COOKIE=
CERT_FLAGS=
CERT_ISSUER=
CERT_KEYSIZE=
CERT_SECRETKEYSIZE=
CERT_SERIALNUMBER=
CERT_SERVER_ISSUER=
CERT_SERVER_SUBJECT=
CERT_SUBJECT=
CF_TEMPLATE_PATH=C:\inetpub\wwwroot\clients\aero-news.net\emailarticle.cfm
CONTENT_LENGTH=0
CONTENT_TYPE=
CONTEXT_PATH=
GATEWAY_INTERFACE=CGI/1.1
HTTPS=off
HTTPS_KEYSIZE=
HTTPS_SECRETKEYSIZE=
HTTPS_SERVER_ISSUER=
HTTPS_SERVER_SUBJECT=
HTTP_ACCEPT=*/*
HTTP_ACCEPT_ENCODING=gzip, br, zstd, deflate
HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE=
HTTP_CONNECTION=Keep-Alive
HTTP_COOKIE=CFID=5156710; CFTOKEN=e5652d3cb55c3de7-B3612488-F20B-C4D3-B6093734B0DC566F; JSESSIONID=5330D0A8E790A8DBDB7C53B85067C1C8.cfusion
HTTP_HOST=www.aero-news.net
HTTP_REFERER=
HTTP_URL=/emailarticle.cfm?do=main.textpost&id=6929BF56-7635-461B-A9B5-C901D6AC65ED
HTTP_USER_AGENT=Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; ClaudeBot/1.0; +claudebot@anthropic.com)
LOCAL_ADDR=10.0.20.10
PATH_INFO=
PATH_TRANSLATED=C:\inetpub\wwwroot\clients\aero-news.net\emailarticle.cfm
QUERY_STRING=do=main.textpost&id=6929BF56-7635-461B-A9B5-C901D6AC65ED
REMOTE_ADDR=10.0.20.1
REMOTE_HOST=10.0.20.1
REMOTE_USER=
REQUEST_METHOD=GET
SCRIPT_NAME=/emailarticle.cfm
SERVER_NAME=www.aero-news.net
SERVER_PORT=80
SERVER_PORT_SECURE=0
SERVER_PROTOCOL=HTTP/1.1
SERVER_SOFTWARE=Microsoft-IIS/10.0
WEB_SERVER_API=
Cookie Variables:
CFID=5156710
CFTOKEN=e5652d3cb55c3de7-B3612488-F20B-C4D3-B6093734B0DC566F
JSESSIONID=5330D0A8E790A8DBDB7C53B85067C1C8.cfusion
Session Variables:
sessionid=5330D0A8E790A8DBDB7C53B85067C1C8.cfusion
urltoken=CFID=5156710&CFTOKEN=e5652d3cb55c3de7-B3612488-F20B-C4D3-B6093734B0DC566F&jsessionid=5330D0A8E790A8DBDB7C53B85067C1C8.cfusion
URL Parameters:
do=main.textpost
id=6929BF56-7635-461B-A9B5-C901D6AC65ED
Debug Rendering Time: 17 ms