Results tagged “airangels”

Despite earlier statements saying that WBIG's tower lights were lit at the time of the Air Angels crash that killed 4 people, station owner Rick Jakle certainly breathed a sigh of relief when security video independently confirmed that the lights were indeed illuminated. The Tribune reports that a security camera at the Route 59 Metra station, pointing north, indicated that the lights were flashing up to 11:58 pm, the time of the crash, and Suburban Chicago News reports that the NTSB has confirmed it as well. Neither the helicopter or the crash were visible on the video.

Last night's fatal crash of an Air Angels helicopter flight in west suburban Aurora still has no apparent cause, but more information is coming out. The victims have been identified as William Mann of Chicago, Dell Waugh of Carmel, Indiana, and Ronald Battiato of Peotone; the infant patient has been identified as Kirstian Blockinger of Leland.

Four people, including a one-year-old baby, were killed when a medical helicopter bound for Chicago's Children's Memorial Hospital clipped a WBIG radio tower and crashed in a field in Aurora. Besides the girl, a pilot, nurse, and paramedic were killed by the crash; no one on the ground was injured. The Air Angels copter flight had originated from Valley West Hospital in Sandwich. The helicopter clipped the tower shortly before midnight, but officials are speculating there may have been problems with the flight already because it was flying so low; under normal conditions, the copter should not have been flying low enough to hit the tower (the height of which ranges from 690 to 750 feet, depending on which media outlet's info you believe). Residents of a nearby apartment complex were evacuated for fear of damage from guide wires in the event the damaged tower collapsed.