ELBA, N.Y. — The in-depth work now begins for the National Transportation Safety Board to try to determine why a Mercy Flight helicopter in essence broke apart and fell from the sky in a farm field in the Town of Elba, killing two people.
The NTSB says the Belt 429 helicopter lifted off from the Genesee County airport about 11 a.m. and started this training flight in a routine fashion; the flight profile had basic patterns near the airport itself.
But then it moved further into Elba.
This helicopter does have a flight data recorder so they can check for more details. There will be many more months of painstaking analysis of the helicopter's systems.
They will also check the pilots performance but noted that both are highly seasoned.
The victims have been identified as Mercy Flight Pilot James Sauer, 60, Churchville, and Bell Helicopter flight instructor/pilot Stewart M. Dietrick, 60, of Prosper, Texas.
Mercy Flight said Sauer is a retired New York State Police pilot who began working with Mercy Flight in October of 2020. He was also a military veteran with decades of flight experience.
Bell Helicopter, which is based in Texas, and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration are involved in the investigation.
The Genesee County Town of Elba is about 35 square miles, with a population just over 2,000 people. All of them, and so many others, are served by Mercy Flight for emergency medical needs.
Investigators say it could take months before we know the full scope of what happened but on Wednesday, we received our first update from the people who are trying to put the pieces together.