FLYING Magazine
The U.S. Coast Guard is searching for one person unaccounted for after a medevac helicopter carrying five people crashed shortly after takeoff from California’s Catalina Island on Wednesday night.
“Four individuals were recovered from the water,” the Coast Guard said in a statement. “Two of the individuals were transferred to a hospital on the mainland and two were pronounced deceased.”
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The helicopter (N313RX) is identified as a Eurocopter EC 135P2+. According to FAA records, it is owned by Reach Air Medical Services, based in Santa Rosa, California.
Per FlightAware.com, the helicopter, operating as Reach Air Medical 16, took off from the Oceanside, California, fire department at 6:40 p.m. PDT and landed at Pebbly Beach Helispot in Avalon on Catalina Island around 7:03 p.m. According to timeanddate.com, sunset was at 6:37 p.m., and civil twilight ended at approximately 7:02 p.m., putting most of the flight under darkness.
On the last flight the helicopter reached an altitude of about 1,200 feet with an airspeed of approximately 160 mph when the altitude decreased to 900 feet, leveled off momentarily, then the airspeed dropped to 120 mph, and the aircraft entered a rapid descent.
Shortly before 8 p.m., authorities, including the Coast Guard, LA County Fire Department, and LA County Sheriff’s Department, responded to the call of the downed aircraft using multiple boats and air assets that included an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter.