TX-NM Medevac Helo Crashes – 3 Dead Including NM FF

The three-member crew of a Southwest Med Evac helicopter died when the aircraft crashed during a training flight at McGregor Range. Officials from Omniflight said in a news release that the helicopter’s pilot and two paramedics were fatally injured when it crashed as it approached a landing zone Friday night. The helicopter was not transporting a patient at the time.

Officials from the company are at the crash site, and the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration have been notified. www.elpasotimes.com

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A Southwest Medevac (Las Cruces) helicopter participating in a training detail at McGregor Range-Fort Bliss (New Mexico/Texas) crashed and caught fire around 2000 hours last night (Friday). Initial reports are that all 3 crew members were killed in the Line of Duty including a Captain of the Mesilla (New Mexico) Fire Department, who was fulltime with Southwest Medevac. www.firefighterclosecalls.com
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Southwest Med Evac, an Omniflight company, is the largest air medical services provider in West Texas and Southern New Mexico. The company offers both rotor- and fixed-wing services to accommodate critical care, trauma and medical paients from neonate to adult and mission profiles including mass casualty incidents and disaster relief. www.omniflight.com

The company has bases in El Paso, Abilene, Snyder, Midland and Houston as well as New Mexico
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By Darren Meritz in The El Paso Times
The three-member crew of a Southwest Med Evac helicopter died Friday night when it crashed during a training flight at McGregor Range. The pilot, William Montgomery of Avondale, Ariz., and two paramedics, John Sutter of Las Cruces and Anthony Archuleta of El Paso, were killed when the helicopter crashed as it prepared to land, said officials of Southwest Med Evac, a division of Omniflight Helicopters Inc.

The helicopter was not transporting patients. Further details of the crash were sketchy Saturday.

“The cause of the accident is unknown at this time,” Anthony DiNota, president and chief operating officer of Omniflight, said in a statement. “There are many questions that need to be answered.”

The crew was participating in a training exercise involving a simulated medical evacuation. Friday was the second day of the two-day exercise, Omniflight officials said.

Federal Aviation Administration spokes man Lynn Lunsford said the pilot and the paramedics were in a Eurocopter AS 350, which had flown from the El Paso International Airport to McGregor Range.

The training exercise had gone as planned and Montgomery radioed to company operators to say he intended to land the aircraft and anticipated no problems, Lunsford said.

Investigators from the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board arrived in El Paso on Saturday to determine what happened after Montgomery’s radio dispatch that could have led to the crash. Omni flight officials were also at the crash site on Saturday.

“We’re putting a team together to assess the wreckage,” Lunsford said.

Southwest Med Evac is contracted with Fort Bliss for emergency medical services.

Weather was clear just before 8 p.m. Friday, and the aircraft was equipped with night-vision goggles, satellite navigation, a radar altimeter and GPS, Omniflight officials said.

Montgomery, the pilot, had been working for Omniflight for about six weeks. His sole responsibility was to fly paramedics on training exercises such as the one at Fort Bliss during the weekend, his wife, Linda Montgomery, said in a telephone interview.

William Montgomery, 63, was an Army pilot during the Vietnam War and had flown several kinds of aircraft throughout his career, his wife said. He had four daughters.

“He had a love of flying,” Linda Montgomery said. “He was employed with Omniflight to fly the helicopter to pick up any military personnel that were injured.”

Family members said Archuleta became a paramedic after working as a firefighter. Archuleta, 54, moved to El Paso from Colorado about a year ago, said Lori Franklin, his sister. Archuleta had three sons and was married to Kim Archuleta.

“They were just doing a training exercise and they invited him and another paramedic to go on the flight,” Franklin said. “He was excited because he doesn’t get to go on many flights.”

Sutter’s family could not be reached for comment.

Friday’s fatal crash was the first since 2008 involving area aircraft.
Read entire story here.