FAA: 4 dead in Missouri medical helicopter crash

[August 27, 2011]  MOSBY, Mo. (AP) -- A medical helicopter crashed in northwestern Missouri late Friday near a small airport where it planned to stop for fuel, killing all four people on board, authorities said.

The Eurocopter AS-350 was carrying three crew members and a patient when it went down at about 7 p.m. in a field a mile north of Midwest National Air Center, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Lynn Lunsford said. The airport is located near the small Clay County community of Mosby, about 20 miles northeast of Kansas City.

Lunsford said the helicopter was flying to the Kansas City suburb of Liberty. He said the aircraft was based in the northwestern Missouri city of St. Joseph, but he could not confirm that the flight originated there.

The helicopter was owned by Air Methods Corp., an Englewood, Colo.-based air ambulance operator, Lunsford said.

Although the helicopter planned to take on fuel at the airport in Mosby, Lunsford said there was no immediate indication of what caused the crash.

"At this point it's too early to try to speculate at all about what might have happened," he said.

Investigators from the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board were expected to arrive at the scene Saturday morning, Lunsford said. He did not expect more information to be released Friday night.

Authorities in Clay County and Mosby referred questions about the crash to the FAA.

[Associated Press]

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