Investigation Underway in Okla. Helicopter Crash

KINGFISHER, Okla. --

A representative with EagleMed LLC, a Wichita, Kan.-based company, said it could be an entire year before investigators know why one of the company's medical helicopters, an A-Star 350, went down, killing two people onboard.

Pilot Al Harrison, 56, of Edmond, and nurse Ryan Duke, 35, of Oklahoma City, died when the chopper went down just a few miles south of Kingfisher.

Another nurse paramedic onboard, Mike Eccard, 34, of Edmond, survived. Officers found him 50 yards away from the crash site, lying against a fence.

EagleMed LLC representatives said a preliminary report with a probable cause could be ready in three months, but the official report as to why the helicopter crashed won't be ready for some time.

Kingfisher Mayor Jack Stuteville said he arrived at the scene not long after the crash, after a farmer told him he saw the helicopter spinning and then crashing into the remote field, about 50 miles northwest of Oklahoma City.

"By the time I got there, it was already burned to pieces," Stuteville said. "The bodies were charred beyond recognition. It was bad."

He saw Eccard about 50 yards from the crash site.

"I still don't know how he did it. He must have bailed out just before it hit the ground ... there was no way he could have crawled that far," Stuteville said.

Stuteville said Eccard was conscious and talking when an ambulance crew arrived and that he showed no obvious signs of burn injuries.

On Friday, Oklahoma Highway Patrol troopers barred access to the crash site so investigators could gather evidence. The investigation will initially focus on the pilot's flight records, the maintenance records of the helicopter and weather conditions at the time, National Transportation and Safety Board Senior Investigator Jason Aguilera said.

The Oklahoma Climatological Survey's Mesonet site near Kingfisher showed wind gusts of between 30 and 35 mph around the time of the crash.

"We can start eliminating what did not happen so we can come up with a probable cause," he said.

It will be between six and nine months before an initial report on the crash is prepared by the NTSB, Aguilera said. Findings will be compared to other crashes of similar helicopters to determine if there is a trend.

Aguilera said EagleMed's safety record also will be reviewed as part of the investigation.

A spokesman for the helicopter's manufacturer, Eurocopter, with headquarters in France and American offices in Grand Prairie, Texas, did not return phone calls seeking comment.

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