4 dead after medical helicopter crashes in heavy rain, fog

American Ambulance, which co-owns SkyLife, employs about 12 pilots, 12 paramedics and 12 nurses, the company told NBC News.

The helicopter was staffed by a “seasoned crew”, said Dan Lynch, Emergency Medical Services director for Fresno, Kings, Madera and Tulare counties.

He wouldn’t speculate on the cause of the crash, leaving the FAA and NTSB, both of whom were present Friday, to answer those questions after completing their investigation.

Fire officials said the helicopter was overdue by more than 30 minutes.

He said it does not appear that the many power lines in the area had any effect.

Valeri said weather conditions are always a factor in such flights, but the crew would have checked the weather before lifting off.

Rescue team from the fire department of Kern County and Sheriff’s office as well were deployed to the location that was last received by the Global Positioning System signal.

Now, federal investigators say they are in the early stages of trying to figure out why the crash happened.

The names of the crew and the patient were not released Thursday night.

American Ambulance tweeted at 10 p.m. that its SkyLife helicopter was confirmed missing.

The helicopter was headed from Porterville Municipal Airport south to San Joaquin Community Hospital in Bakersfield when it crashed about halfway through the 50-mile trip, Kern County fire officials said.

“These were very experienced full-time crew members”, he said, adding that the company had never had an accident of this magnitude since it was founded in 1991. Also, the officials didn’t reveal why the patient was airlifted to hospital.