NTSB to investigate medical chopper crash

The NTSB has joined the investigation into a deadly medical helicopter crash on Sunday.

DECATUR COUNTY, Ind. (WISH) - The National Transportation Safety Board joined the investigation into a deadly medical helicopter crash in Decatur County.

All three aboard were killed when the Air Evac chopper crashed and exploded on Sunday.

Pilot Roger Warren, Nurse Sandra Pearson, and Paramedic Wade Weston had just left a fundraiser for a Decatur County Fire Department when the chopper crashed into a cornfield.

Investigators are searching the field for parts of the helicopter and any clues that might solve this mystery.

Meanwhile, I-Team 8 learned that Air Evac, a Missouri based company had another fatal crash in Alabama late last year. Again, a pilot, nurse and paramedic were all killed. The NTSB has yet to rule on that.

And the company has also confirmed there is an open FBI investigation into what it calls the company's billing and health care compliance matters. The justice department has been working that case more than a year.

Monday, the CEO of Rush Memorial Hospital where Air Evac has had a base since February sent us a statement which in part reads: Numerous lives were saved in Rush County by the people who lost their lives in Sunday's crash. They were like family to us and will be missed in so many ways by so many people.

For now, Air Evac has temporarily suspended patient flights at three other bases around Indiana.

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Fonte: Flight Safety Information 02/09/2008.