Killed in the accident were Kevin Johnston (35) pilot, Taryn Hoover (31) seasonal employee of
Olympic National Park, and Rita McMahon (52) President of West Coast Search Dogs. Five
rescuers on board suffered injuries, some serious.
Winter storm closes in on AirMed flight
On January 11, 1998, Dave Anderson, (43) an accomplished backcountry skier, was caught in a
small avalanche (3 feet deep, 30 feet wide, 60 feet long) on Pink Pine Ridge in Little Cottonwood
Canyon, Utah. He made contact with a tree, and fractured both legs and suffered internal injuries.
After rescuers were notified by friends who were with the subject, and in very bad weather,
Anderson was transported by snowmobile to the road.
A University of Utah Hospital AirMed helicopter (Bell 222 twin engine) left the LZ, a parking lot at
Snowbird Ski Resort, at about 11:00 p.m.
Snow was not falling when the helicopter departed the hospital, but there were 'gusty
winds and light to moderate snow' during arrival at the landing zone. The dispatcher
telephoned the pilot (using a cellular phone) to advise him that hospital weather conditions
had deteriorated due to a fast moving front. She said it was 'snowing really hard,' the winds
were gusting to 37 knots, and visibility was less than 300 feet (she could not see a wing of
the hospital on the closed circuit television monitor, and could barely distinguish the
helipad).
A sheriff's deputy said that the helicopter took off from the landing zone in 'blizzard
conditions' and circled the landing zone, then turned north and disappeared from view.
Seconds later, a deputy heard 'a slight muffled boom . . . The weather had grown steadily
worse and the snow was falling very heavily.' Later, the helicopter was found where it had
impacted mountainous terrain in a canyon area. Several tree tops were severed when the
helicopter crashed.
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The helicopter had slammed into the side of the canyon about 1 1/4 mile up the mountain from the
road. Search and rescue workers hiked to the crash site up steep terrain and through deep snow
in extreme avalanche conditions. The rotor blades had been tangled in a patch of pine trees and
the helicopter slammed into some rocks, according to Salt Lake County Sheriff's Sgt. Lane Larkin
said. It crashed at an elevation of about 8,500 feet. The weather was closing in and it was windy
at the time of the accident.
Four people died in the crash, including the subject, Dave Anderson. Also killed were Stan Berg,
(48), pilot, Tim Hynes, (45), paramedic, and Shayne Carnahan, (32), nurse.
The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this
accident as follows. Flight by the pilot into known adverse weather conditions, and his
failure (or inability) to maintain sufficient clearance or altitude from mountainous terrain.
Related factors were: darkness, heavy snow, high winds, the pilot's perception of pressure
that was induced by the conditions and events, and mountainous terrain.
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