Weather ruled out as cause of rescue helicopter crash

Jace Radke

Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2002 | 9:34 a.m.

Investigators are concentrating on the possibility that either a mechanical problem or human error caused a Mercy Air Service helicopter to crash Saturday near Primm, killing the pilot and two paramedics.

National Transportation Safety Board investigator Tom Little said that what caused the Bell 222 to go down off Interstate 15 south of the Nevada-California border likely won't be determined for 10 months to a year.

"The weather, or environment, does not appear to be a factor, so we are looking at the human and machine factors," Little said. "We do know that the helicopter took off from Pahrump at 4:01 a.m and headed toward a car accident south of Primm. We've narrowed down the time of the crash to 4:28 or 4:29 a.m."

Killed in the crash were paramedics Ana Coburn, 30, and Kalaya Jarbsunthie, 31, both of Las Vegas, and pilot Marshall Butler, 46, of Pahrump.

The wreckage of the helicopter has been packed up and hauled to a NTSB site in Palmdale, Calif., where investigators will study it, Little said.

"Anything else I could say about a cause at this point would be purely speculative," Little said. "We'll investigate fully and determine what happened."

Mercy Air has scheduled a memorial service for the victims at 10 a.m. Saturday at Cashman Center, 850 Las Vegas Blvd. North.

Memorial funds have been set up for the families of the flight crew. Donations can made at any Colonial Bank branch.

The Butler fund is account number 8032234729, the Coburn fund is 8033729446 and the Jarbsunthie fund is 8032234786.