A medical helicopter touched the ocean twice just moments before a separate one crashed near Catalina Island on Sept. 30, according to a preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Board.
The early NTSB investigation uncovered surveillance video that showed the first medical helicopter, operated by a different company, left the same seaplane base 45 seconds before the helicopter that crashed.
The first copter hovered over the helipad, turned and went north. Thirteen seconds later, that helicopter descended, touched the water twice but then climbed, the report, released Thursday, Oct. 22, states.
“That suggests to me that the pilot of that (first) helicopter was on the verge of becoming totally disoriented like our fatal pilot helicopter,” Robert Katz, a helicopter pilot and flight instructor, told a reporter when asked to review the initial NTSB findings.
The NTSB has not yet determined whether the crash, which killed three people and injured two, was caused by pilot error or a mechanical issue.
But the darkness surrounding Catalina Island due to its distance from the mainland makes it easy for helicopter pilots to lose track of the horizon, Katz said, though that is not unique to Catalina. It can happen frequently with helicopter pilots, who he said are often not used to flying at night and are not always instrument-proficient.
“When you’re taking off at night from Catalina, you’re taking off into a black hole,” Katz said. “It sure sounds like this could have been … an incident that preceded the fatal one” if the pilot had not been able to right that helicopter, he said.
The report described dark conditions with slight wind when the medical helicopter, owned by REACH Air Medical Services, crashed around 7:45 p.m. The helicopter took off from Pebbly Beach Seaplane Base in Avalon and was supposed to fly to Torrance.
The helicopter that crashed took off, climbed and went north, reaching 90 feet at its highest altitude. The helicopter then entered a low nose attitude, meaning the helicopter’s nose was pointed beneath the horizon, descended for several seconds and crashed into the water eight seconds later, according to the report. It descended at a rate of 1,280 feet per minute, or about 14.5 miles per hour, the report states. Witnesses saw the helicopter lift off, descend and then crash into the water.
The crash killed the pilot, 58-year-old Steven Robinson, 48-year-old flight nurse Jessica Devries and 45-year-old patient Catalina Romero. The flight paramedic was seriously injured and a passenger had minor injuries, according to the preliminary report.
The wreckage of the helicopter was found 0.3 miles north of the seaplane base it took off from, at a depth of 209 feet, according to the report.
Witnesses described the night of the crash as dark and moonless, the report said. The wind was measured at 6 knots, which is classified as a light breeze on the National Weather Service’s Beaufort Scale. The groundspeed of the helicopter was 65 knots, or roughly 75 mph. Visibility was ten miles.
The wreckage was recovered and saved for examination, the NTSB said.
The report will be followed by a more specific, final one after further investigation.