Posted: Jul 29, 2010 7:16 PM
Updated: Jul 29, 2010 7:43 PM
TUCSON - The three people who died when the medical helicopter crashed have been identified.
61-year old Alexander Kelley was flying the helicopter that was headed to Douglas from Marana when it went down at Park and Glenn.
Also on board, 41-year old flight nurse Parker Summons and 28-year old Brenda French, a paramedic.
Federal investigators have the task of finding out just what went wrong. A news conference was held by Air Methods. They own and operate Lifenet. They say the helicopter had been in operation a year and was state of the art.
Craig Yale, Vice-President of Corporate Development for the Colorado-based Air Methods says, "It had night vision goggle capability. It had what's called helicopter trained avoidance warning system on board, it had a wire strike kit, it had in cockpit satellite weather, it had a very modern avionics kit."
Officials say the crew was picking up the helicopter after being stored in a facility in Marana. It was in for routine maintenance. Yale said, "They had transferred into it and were returning to their base. It was there primary aircraft."
An aircraft that is considered by Air Methods to be extremely reliable, and suited for the Arizona weather.
Yale says he doesn't know what caused the crash. "That's an ongoing investigation. The FAA and NTSB will be involved in making that determination," he says. Meanwhile, Air Methods is planning a memorial for the crew that died.
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