Wednesday, July 23, 2025
Google search engine
HomeUncategorizedWitness described loud ‘boom’ before medical helicopter crash

Witness described loud ‘boom’ before medical helicopter crash


JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – Days after the federal government released new findings in a deadly helicopter crash in Madison County, we’re exploring what one witness heard and saw seconds before impact.

The witness was working at the Turcotte Fish Hatchery, just seven hundred yards from where the medical helicopter went down.

He says after hearing that boom, he turned around and watched the chopper pitching up and down, descending at a 45-degree angle.

Aviation expert Tommy McDermott — who owns a training company employing dozens of helicopter pilots — told 3 On Your Side that that noise could have been the rotor blades hitting the tail boom, which would be consistent with what the witness saw.

The witness didn’t hear the engine after that.

The last radio transmission from flight nurse Dustin Pope gave a few clues, too.

He told UMMC over the radio, “We’ve got a major problem. We are having an emergency landing in a field right now, ops are not good, controls are giving us a lot of trouble, coming in fast.”

Pope and two others, including the pilot, 62-year-old Calvin Wesolowski, died in the crash.

Information from the NTSB’s preliminary report shows Wesolowski had more than 10-thousand hours piloting helicopters.

McDermott says the crash is likely a mechanical failure and not pilot error.

But again, investigators will decide that in the next twelve to 18 months when the NTSB finishes its report.

Want more WLBT news in your inbox? Click here to subscribe to our newsletter.

See a spelling or grammar error in our story? Please click here to report it and include the headline of the story in your email.



Source link

RELATED ARTICLES

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

- Advertisment -
Google search engine

Most Popular

Recent Comments