Patient Dies Of Injuries From D.C. Copter Crash
Pilot Credited With Heroics In Averting Bigger Disaster
A critically ill patient aboard a medical helicopter that crashed Tuesday near Washington Hospital Center died of injuries suffered in the accident, authorities said yesterday.
Steven Gaston, 51, was en route to the hospital for surgery when the helicopter began experiencing problems, authorities said. Hoping to minimize the danger, the pilot tried to make an emergency landing but crashed on the golf course at the nearby U.S. Armed Forces Retirement Home in Northwest Washington.
The pilot and two crew members also were injured in the late-afternoon crash. They were listed in serious condition last night with injuries that are not thought to be life-threatening. Emergency workers said the flight crew stayed focused after the accident, giving them advice about how to treat Gaston as they were being removed from the wreckage.
Gaston, who had a lengthy medical history, was so sick that doctors at Greater Southeast Community Hospital — where he was initially admitted — worried he would not survive unless he had surgery at the more advanced Washington Hospital Center, officials said. He was taken there after the crash and died late Tuesday.
Beverly Fields, a spokeswoman for the D.C. medical examiner, said an autopsy determined that Gaston died of trauma to his torso from the crash.
The National Transportation Safety Board is leading the investigation into the accident.
Gaston, a father of three who lived in the 2400 block of Elvans Road SE, had been battling a severe liver ailment for years and recently had broken a leg, family members said. He was in his wheelchair on a street in Southeast Washington on Tuesday afternoon when he began to cough up blood and was taken to Greater Southeast, said his brother Henry A. Gaston.
Doctors thought Steven Gaston had ruptured his stomach and intestines, his brother said.
Gaston’s oldest daughter, Coleen Pastora, said she hopes investigators determine what caused the accident. She added that she thought the flight crew members did everything they could to save her father, a handyman who specialized in repairing cars.
“I just wasn’t expecting this,” said Pastora, 32. “He was wonderful. Life changes so quickly.”
The pilot, Darryl Johnson, 58, a retired Army pilot from Damascus, Va., had surgery yesterday for damage to his spinal cord, hospital officials said. They said they did not expect the injuries to cause paralysis.
The flight medic, David Martin, 33, of Haymarket, broke ribs and fractured his spine. Neither injury required surgery. Martin is scheduled to get married in three weeks.
The flight nurse, Nancy Vanderweele, 39, of Silver Spring, also suffered a spinal fracture and a broken leg and shoulder. She was expected to undergo surgery to repair the damage to her left leg.
Johnson, who was an Army helicopter pilot during the Vietnam war, acted heroically Tuesday, said his crew and his employer, CJ Systems Aviation Group.
Lawrence J. Pietropaulo, president of CJ Systems, said at a news conference that Johnson was going to land at the helipad at Washington Hospital Center but apparently experienced a problem. He called out “mayday” over the radio and then diverted and tried to land on the golf course, off North Capitol Street NW, Pietropaulo said.
Johnson was a good pilot with more than 38 years of experience in the cockpit, Pietropaulo said. He had nearly 1,000 hours of experience at the controls of the Eurocopter EC135 P1, the model that crashed Tuesday, Pietropaulo said.
“The results of what he did are a real testament to his experience and his flying abilities,” Pietropaulo said. “Getting it down and away from people and structures . . . It could have been much, much worse.”
Janis Orlowski, the hospital’s chief medical officer, also credited the pilot with helping to avert a bigger tragedy. She said that Vanderweele, the flight nurse, told her, “I am alive because Darryl Johnson was the pilot.”
CJ Systems operates five medical helicopters for Washington Hospital Center. A company spokeswoman said that the company manages medical aircraft out of 88 sites for hospitals and communities across the country. It has 114 helicopters and six airplanes, she said.
Tuesday’s incident is the fifth fatal crash involving a CJ Systems aircraft since 2000, according to the company and federal aviation records.
Orlowski said the accident was Washington Hospital Center’s first crash in 40,000 transport runs since it began operating medical helicopters in 1983.
Paula Faria, a hospital center spokeswoman, said last night that hospital officials had approved the resumption of medical flights. “We did a voluntary stand-down” over the previous 24 hours, Faria said, but after checking equipment and personnel, “we’ve determined that we’re ready to go.”
The episode marked the second deadly crash involving medical helicopters in the Washington region in the past two years. On Jan. 10, 2005, a medical helicopter crashed in the Potomac River near the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, killing two people on board.
That copter, operated by Air Methods Corp., had just dropped off a patient at Washington Hospital Center when it crashed. Investigators have said in a preliminary report that wake turbulence from an aircraft landing at Reagan National Airport might have caused the helicopter to plummet into the river. The accident killed the pilot and flight paramedic; the flight nurse survived.
SOURCE: Staff Writer Del Quentin Wilber Washington Post
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