Probe finds no engine trouble in medical copter that crashed

A year-old girl and three crew members were killed in the crash late Wednesday.

CHICAGO (AP) — A helicopter transporting a sick toddler did not appear to have engine problems before it struck a radio tower wire and crashed, killing all four people aboard, a federal investigator said Friday.

“We can’t rule it [engine problems] out but certainly radar data showing he’s in level flight is a strong indicator that there wasn’t,” said National Transportation Safety Board investigator John Brannen.

Nothing found in the wreckage of the crash in the Chicago suburb of Aurora late Wednesday suggests a mechanical failure, either, he said.

Brannen also said NTSB officials have listened to recordings of the pilot’s communications with an air traffic control tower in DuPage County and they have not reported there were any distress calls before the crash late Wednesday.

“All the information is that communications were businesslike,” he said, adding that the helicopter was not equipped with any of the recorders that might have been able to shed more light on what was going on in the cockpit just before the crash.

At the time of the crash, the helicopter was flying about 50 feet lower than the top of the 734-foot-tall tower, a well-known landmark in the area. With no sign that the aircraft had engine problems that caused it to lose altitude, a key question is whether the tower’s lights were on.

The Air Angels helicopter was carrying 1-year-old Kirstin Blockinger, who was suffering seizures, to a Chicago hospital. She and the three crew members were killed.

Brannen said that when he arrived at the scene a short time after the helicopter came apart and crashed into a field, the lights were off. But he said that it was unclear whether the lights were not working or the force of the collision with the wire knocked them out.

Because of concerns about the structural integrity of the tower, police asked about 1,000 residents of nearby homes to evacuate. On Friday, crews took the damaged top portion of the tower down. Aurora police spokesman Dan Ferrelli said enough of the work would be done by the end of the day to make it safe enough for residents to return home by Friday evening.