ELBA, N.Y. (AP) — A medical helicopter pilot and flight instructor were killed in a crash Tuesday during a training flight in Western New York, according to state police and the transport company.
The Mercy Flight helicopter went down at around 1 p.m. near the Genesee County town of Elba, off of Norton Road. The scene is located about halfway between Buffalo and Rochester, said Maj. Eugene Staniszewski at a news conference Tuesday.
Neighbors reported hearing strange sounds coming from the helicopter right before it crashed.
"Before the boom, I had run out of the house thinking it was going to crash on the house. That's how loud it was," said Charlene Schultz of Elba. "And then it went down and me and my husband went running through the cemetery, that's right beside our house, to see where it was because we knew it was close. I went in my car down the road looking to see if I could see where it was and there was three men in the road. It's not even a half a mile from my house. And they were jumping up and down so I slowed down and when I looked I saw the debris. You couldn't make out if it was a plane, a helicopter. It was just a mess."
No patients were on board, authorities said. Mercy Flight said the cause of the accident had not been determined, and that the crash occurred during an annual Bell Helicopter factory training.
Buffalo-based Mercy Flight identified the pilot as James Sauer, 60, of Churchville, a retired New York State Police pilot. The Rochester Police Department says Sauer worked as an RPD officer from 1993 to 2001.
The flight instructor, who worked for the helicopter manufacturer, was identified by state police as Stewart Dietrick, 60, of Prosper, Texas.
Staniszewski, of the state police, said the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board would investigate the cause of the accident. Weather did not appear to be a factor.
Downed power lines were visible near the wreckage but are not believed to have contributed, Staniszewski said.
“I don’t believe the lines caused the crash but the aircraft may have struck the lines on the way down,” he said.
Mercy Flight transports patients to area hospitals in a Bell 429 helicopter, according to the not-for-profit company's website. The twin-engine aircraft was housed at the Genesee County Airport, which is a little less than 3 miles (5 kilometers) from the crash site.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.