A Minnesota medical flight pilot and a nurse were killed when the helicopter they were flying went down in extremely foggy weather early Friday.
The crash involving a North Memorial Air Care AgustaWestland A-109 helicopter happened at about 1 a.m. near the Brainerd Lakes Regional Airport, KARE-TV reports. The pilot and nurse died at the scene, and another crew member—a paramedic—was injured.
Steven Wright, the airport manager, told Minnesota Public Radio that the paramedic was taken to Brainerd's St. Joseph's Medical Center in "severe but stable condition." As of Friday night, his condition was unknown.
An airport worker told KARE that dense ground fog had limited visibility at the time of the crash. Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board investigators are traveling to Brainerd to look into the crash. Members from the Baxter Police Department and the Crow Wing County Sheriff’s Office, as well as the Brainerd Police and Fire departments also responded to the crash scene.
North Memorial Air Care makes around 4,500 medical flights throughout Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and North and South Dakoa, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports.
