Final Report: EMS helicopter into Potomac River

Eurocopter EC 135P2, Oxon Hill, Md., Jan. 10, 2005–The NTSB blamed the pilot’s failure to identify and arrest the descent of the LifeNet helicopter, which resulted in controlled flight into terrain. Contributing factors were the dark night conditions, limited outside visual references and the lack of an operable radar altimeter. The EC 135 crashed into the Potomac River, just south of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, killing the commercial pilot and the flight paramedic and seriously injuring the flight nurse. The helicopter was destroyed.