Car that spooked helicopter pilot wasn’t in landing zone

Keith Paul

Friday, Nov. 17, 2000 | 10:41 a.m.

A driver apparently didn't have her car in the landing zone when a Flight for Life helicopter veered off and wrecked in Pahrump on Monday, Nye County sheriff officials said.

The driver was directed away from the landing zone and was about 40 feet outside of the area when the helicopter came in for a landing, Assistant Sheriff Richard Marshall said.

But the pilot, Tim Rego, told National Traffic Safety Board investigators in his opinion the car was in the landing area and pulled up, said Ray Brown, a spokesman for Valley Hospital, a liaison for the helicopter service.

"He had gone over (power) wires that had been identified prior to landing, but he saw a second set of wires," Brown said. "There were too many wires and that's why he put it (the helicopter) down."

The helicopter slammed into the ground and fell over on its side, breaking the rotor. Rego, nurse Lisa Freeman and paramedic Rick Loughry were not injured, Brown said.

Brown said the NTSB called the incident a hard landing.

"It wasn't like a crash where if fell out of the sky," he said. "He put it down to avoid the wires."

The NTSB investigator handling the Flight for Life crash could not be reached for comment this morning.

Brown said the NTSB has concluded the investigation and no action was being taken against the pilot.

"He did what he had to in that situation," Brown said.

A landing zone was set up to transport "a woman in distress," and a paramedic directed the driver around the landing zone, Marshall said.

In the days after the crash, police thought the woman had her car in the landing zone because of the pilot's statement and remarks by other people on the ground who said the car entered the area.

But Marshall said detectives spoke with the paramedic who directed the driver outside of the landing zone.

"Her headlights were on the landing zone and the helicopter was coming in at her headlights, so (the pilot) may have thought she was in the landing zone," Marshall said.

Police spoke with the driver, whose name was not released, and she was unaware that authorities were looking for her. No charges will be filed against her, Marshall said.

Brown said the flight crew was back to work the day after the helicopter was put down. A replacement helicopter was expected today and will start transporting patients as soon as it is equipped with medical supplies.