Weather is again cited as cause of helicopter crash

Friday, Dec. 8, 2000 | 10:40 a.m.

Pilot error and bad weather were cited as the probable cause of a Flight for Life helicopter crash last year at Indian Springs that took the lives of the pilot and two flight nurses.

A report, released Thursday by the National Transportation Safety Board, found that former Soviet Air Force pilot James Bond Jr. suffered "spatial disorientation and subsequent loss of control" during the April 3, 1999, crash about 15 minutes before midnight.

The report came as no surprise as just weeks after the accident, the NTSB's preliminary findings were that Bond, 42, apparently became disoriented in a winter storm and was trying to find his way when the craft crashed.

The final report, like the preliminary findings, said visibility in the blowing snow and sleet was less than 50 feet when the helicopter plowed into the ground, also killing Kathy Batterman, 44, and Leroy Shelton, 37.

The copter, a Messerschmitt-Bolkow-Blohm BO-105, had been en route from Valley Hospital to its home base at Hidden Hills Airport in Pahrump when it crashed east of Old Ben Road, about a half-mile north of the Wilson Road intersection, the report said.

The report said Bond had received a weather briefing at 5 p.m., calling for broken clouds, rain showers and strong northerly winds. However, "there was no record of him (Bond) receiving an update," the report said. He wound up flying in freezing rain, then wet snow and finally freezing sleet, the report said.

The helicopter, owned by Metro Aviation Inc., had delivered a patient to Valley and left for Pahrump at about 11:15 p.m. Its wreckage covered an area that stretched 466 feet, the report said.

An autopsy revealed there was no alcohol or screened drugs in the pilot's system, other than an antihistamine, allergy medicine and a local anesthetic, the report said.

Bond had logged 10,902 flight hours, including 6,580 in helicopters. He had 3,592 hours of instrument time. He had worked as an emergency medical services pilot about one year, the report said.