More on helicopter crash, AM tower

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: 4 dead in helicopter crash identified : : Officials released the names this morning of four victims killed on a medical transport helicopter that was carrying an infant girl between hospitals when it crashed overnight, killing all aboard, damaging an AM radio tower, and startling residents of an Aurora apartment complex within sight of the field where the helicopter went down. : The infant, who reportedly had been suffering seizures, was Kirstian Blockinger of Leland, Ill., according to Aurora police. : Also killed were the Air Angels pilot, Dell Waugh, 69, of Carmel, Ind.; copilot William Mann, 31, of Chicago; and paramedic Ronald Battiato, 41, of Peotone, Ill. : The crash of the Bell 222 helicopter run by Bolingbrook-based Air Angels Inc. is the third crash for the company in six years, and prompted Childrens Memorial Hospital--the flight's destination--to suspend flights from the company this morning. : Air Angels later announced it was suspending further operations until it determines it is safe to resume. It has flown critical-care flights in Illinois, Indiana and surrounding states for over 10 years, according to a company statement. : Pilot Waugh, a Vietnam veteran with more than 4,000 hours flight time, was very familiar with the area and knew the radio tower was there, said Mike Dermont, director of business development for Air Angels. The tower, he said, is a landmark for pilots as well as a hazard. : Peotone Fire Chief William Schreiber said Battiato was a father of six including a newborn. He was a paramedic and firefighter on the Peotone Fire Department for about 10 years and was a lieutenant when he left four years ago to pursue other work. : : Schreiber was not sure how long Battiato had worked for Air Angels. Members of the department were stunned this morning when they heard the news. : : "It's shocking and a shame," Shreiber said. "He was a good man and a very knowledgeable firefighter. And he was a good father." : : "You could hear the helicopter really, really loud," said Keith Pudlewski, 33, who was reading a novel in a second-story apartment near the crash just before midnight Wednesday. "And the next thing you know, you hear 'boom.'" : The girl originally was bound for Central DuPage Hospital, but the closer hospital was full, said Julie Pesch, a spokeswoman for Children's Memorial. : "We extend our deepest sympathies to the families and friends of the patient and our crew," Air Angels CEO Jim Adams said in the statement. "Air Angels is working with the National Transportation Safety Board and FAA to investigate the cause of the accident and we will provide more information as it becomes available." : Only an outline of the tragedy had emerged by this morning. The craft, a sleek Bell 222 helicopter that was a workhorse for medical flights and a star of local aviation shows, was based at Clow Airport in Bolingbrook. The pilot reported no mechanical problems before takeoff and weather was not an issue, Adams said. : At some point, airport dispatchers lost contact with the pilot; soon after the silence, Aurora police contacted the company, saying that the helicopter had crashed in a vacant field between commercial buildings and an apartment complex at the corner of Eola Road and Liberty Street in Aurora. : Residents were startled to hear what sounded like a low-flying helicopter and then an explosion. : "You heard a boom and felt an impact. I thought someone had ran into the side of our house," said London Hall, 30. "I looked out my bedroom window and flames were everywhere." : Janine Keating, 51, said her husband could hear the whine of an aircraft going down. Seconds later, she heard the crash. : "I must have popped out of bed and said 'what the heck was that?'" : When she looked out the window, she saw "a big orange ball of flames," then called 911 and went as close to the scene as she could. After learning that it was a medical flight with a young child aboard, "my stomach just sunk," she said. : Aurora Assistant Fire Chief John Lehman said the wreck was still engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived, with debris strewn over a 75- to 100-foot-wide area. : Apparently, it had clipped one of the tension wires supporting a 750-foot radio tower, said Rick Jakle, the president of radio station WBIG-1280 AM. The station was off the air Thursday morning, and Lehman said firefighters fearing the radio tower was unstable had evacuated 16 units of a nearby apartment building to be safe. : It wasn't known if the helicopter was having mechanical problems before it clipped the wire. : The FAA provided an outline of the flight plan, but said further investigation would be done by the NTSB. Records show Air Angels helicopters have been involved in two crashes in the past six years, including a January 2003 crash in which the pilot was killed. That investigation blamed pilot error, saying the weather was a factor. A crash in August 2007 was blamed on mechanical problems; no one was injured. : National Transportation Safety Board records show that 24 people have been killed so far this year in at least 10 medical helicopter accidents, by far the greatest number of fatalities in the last four years. And the figures do not include the Aurora crash or a Sept. 28 accident in Maryland that claimed four lives. : Members of Congress have called for a hearing on flight safety as part of a reauthorization bill for the FAA next year. Likewise, the FAA formed a task force to look into the increased number of medical flight accidents and is in the process of redrafting safety rules. : The NTSB recommends several measures to improve safety, including more training as well as equipping aircraft with terrain warning systems and other equipment that would make it safer to fly at night and in poor weather. It was not clear if the Air Angels flight had that training or equipment. : Joseph C. Dant, vice president for business development at Kish Health System, which operates Valley West Community Hospital, said the girl was brought into the emergency room there and airlifted late Wednesday to receive a higher level of care. : He wouldn't say what the girl was being treated for. But he said the flight was not unusual. "For us it was a normal, standard transfer," he said. : (Chicago Tribune)

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