NTSB: Medical plane crashes before crash in Nevada, killing 5

Stagecoach, Nevada (AP – Authorities said Sunday that a medical transport plane that crashed in mountainous northern Nevada, killing five people, broke apart all five people on board, including the patient, before hitting the ground.

The National Transportation Safety Board sent a seven-member team of investigators to the crash site Friday night near Stagecoach.

“How do we know if a plane has crashed in mid-flight? We found parts of the plane from a half to three-quarters of a mile away from the crash site, NTSB Vice Chairman Bruce Landsberg said at a briefing in Carson City.

Landsberg said at an afternoon briefing that the group had spent the entire day searching for parts of the downed aircraft. He added that investigators would likely be on site for several days before the wreckage of the single-engine Pilatus PC-12 was moved so that investigators could try to determine the possible cause of the crash. The aircraft was built in 2002.

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“Right now, we just don’t know. It’s like a 3D puzzle,” Landsberg said. “It’s harder when you don’t have all the details in one place.”

The crash comes amid a winter storm warning issued by the National Weather Service in Reno for large sections of Nevada, including parts of Lyon County. It was snowing steadily with winds around 20 miles per hour (30 km/h) and gusts up to 30 miles per hour (50 km/h).

The weather service said visibility was less than two miles (3.2 km) with a cloud ceiling about 2,000 feet (600 meters) above the ground when the plane took off from Reno for Salt Lake City, Utah and crashed.

Care Flight, which provides air and helicopter ambulance services, identified the downed aircraft and reported that the pilot, flight nurse, flight paramedic, patient and family member of the patient were killed.

Robin Hayes, a Stagecoach resident and former flight nurse, said she heard a rattling plane fly over her house and then crash behind her house.

“I knew the plane was in trouble,” Hayes told the Reno Gazette Journal. “I knew it would crash. I just hoped he didn’t crash into my house.”

Hayes called 911 and went outside, but was unable to see the wreckage due to the snowstorm.

Misty Grunmay told the newspaper that the wind was howling and the snow was blowing hard when she heard what sounded like whistles and thuds behind her Stagecoach home. The rural area has about 2,500 residents and is located about 45 miles (72 km) southeast of Reno.

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Grunemai said she wanted to help, but the conditions were terrible and she didn’t have a car that could safely navigate dirt roads covered in 6 inches of snow.

“It was snowing and visibility was terrible. I don’t even understand why this plane was allowed to take off,” Grünemaj said.

The Lyon County Sheriff’s Office said authorities began receiving calls about the crash near Stagecoach, Nevada around 9:15 p.m., with the wreckage discovered two hours later.

Care Flight officials said they are suspending all flights and will work with each of their operations to determine when it will return to work.

The aircraft was registered to Guardian Flight, based in South Jordan, Utah, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Care Flight is a REMSA Health service in Reno and Guardian Flight.

According to the website of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, more than half a million patients use ambulance services in the United States each month.