PHILADELPHIA - The flight medic aboard an ill-fated helicopter that crashed in Drexel Hill told federal investigators that he and the flight nurse were "pinned to the ceiling" when a loud bang caused the chopper to barrel roll as it plummeted from the sky.
The National Transportation Safety Board on Monday released a report that detailed the moments a Eurocopter EC-135 with four aboard fell from the sky in suburban Philadelphia while on route to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
The four-page report contains an onboard account from the flight medic and several witnesses on the ground. It details the track that the chopper took beginning around 12:50 when the helicopter that was cruising at 3,500 feet suddenly started to lose altitude.
A witness, described in the report as an "aviation enthusiast" who was "familiar with the many helicopters flying to and from area hospitals," told federal investigators that he spotted the helicopter "in a nose-down attitude, far less than 1,000 ft above the ground, [and] rotating around its longitudinal axis."The chopper came to a crash landing on Burmont Road and Bloomfield Avenue near the Drexel Hill United Methodist Church.