1 dead, 1 critical, 2 serious after PCSO helicopter crash

[Wetzelbill]

Source: KVOA News Tucson

TUCSON - Pima County Sheriff's Office confirms that one person is dead, one person is in critical condition, and two people are in serious condition after a PCSO helicopter crashed into a mountain near Avra Valley.

One person aboard the helicopter radioed for help after the crash occurred at about 11:30 a.m. today, near Waterman Road and Silverbell Road.

Northwest Fire responded with a technical rescue crew who hiked to the crash site, near the top of a mountain, and assisted the four victims of the crash.

Davis Monthan responded with two "Pave Hawk" helicopters - these rescue helicopters performed a "long rope rescue" on two of the victims by dangling a rope above the crash site, then winching two of the victims in a gurney to the helicopter. The Pave Hawk then landed, and the victims were transported by ambulance to a medical helicopter, which then transported them to University Medical Center.

Read more: http://www.kvoa.com/news/1-dead-1-critical-2-serious-after-pcso-helicopter-crash/

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Some speculation that Sheriff Dupnik was on board, judging from the purpose of the flight, doesn't sound like it. Tragic event for a still healing community, nonetheless.

[Ptah]

1. It happened during a sudden hailstorm, is my understanding.

[WhiteTara]

2. I always hated flying into Phoenix

in the summer. The heat would push the plane up, it was always such a struggle to land. The winds are crazy in the desert too with sudden storms. I hope Dupnik was not aboard and I wish the survivors speedy recovery.

[Wetzelbill]

3. Yeah we did have a sudden storm

Must have been hail up that way.

[Ptah]

5. We had light hail and then heavy rain at about that time. (Prince & Campbell)

[Michigan-Arizona]

4. Wondered where they were going to

I had to pull off the road for them to pass today. I wondered where they were going because I couldn't see any smoke like from a house fire. We did get a somewhat decent rain that only lasted a few minutes but I never seen any hail, not to say there couldn't have been any.

[PSzymeczek]

7. Yeah, the weather today

was nuts. I'm 75 miles SE of Tucson, and we had wind, rain, and cold. No hail that I know of, but it was weather that a chopper shouldn't be up in. Apparently, they were scouting a location for a new radio tower.

[Ptah]

6. The pilot that died in this crash had been flying helicopters since the Viet Nam war.

And he was the pilot in this Carmona episode:

http://azstarnet.com/news/local/crime/article_028ebe50-2d6a-11e0-8e05-001cc4c03286.html

Leonberger was a state Department of Public Safety pilot in 1992 in a dramatic rescue in which
he hovered expertly above the crash of Medivac helicopter that had smashed into a a rocky,
snowy cliff in the Pinaleno Mountains near Safford. Susan Ben-Asher Newton and Dale Matthews,
the nurse and pilot of the Medivac, were killed.

Glenn Velardi, a medic who survived the crash, spent the night waiting for rescue.

In dramatic fashion, then-deputy Tom Price and Dr. Richard Carmona rappelled to Valardi's side.
Price helped Carmona rig himself into a harness with Velardi. Al Quezada, a DPS flight medic,
helped direct the operation from the helicopter, which flew Carmona and Velardi, dangling and
spinning from the end of a 75-foot line, to a safe landing site about a mile away.

Carmona went on to become U.S. Surgeon General.