2 killed in Texas air medical crash

By EMS1 Staff

MIDLOTHIAN, Texas — Two people died Wednesday afternoon when a CareFlite helicopter crashed in Texas.

The victims were identified Thursday as pilot Guy Del Giudice, 44, of Keller, and flight mechanic Stephen Durler, 23, of Dallas.

Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Lynn Lunsford said the aircraft was on a maintenance test flight at the time of the crash,

"They were out doing the required checks on that when the crash occurred," he said.

No patients were on board at the time of the crash, which happened near Midlothian in Ellis County, and the FAA said weather conditions were clear.

"The main rotor blades and hub are located quite a ways from the main part of the wreckage and the tail boom has been cut off and is also some distance from the main part of the wreckage," Lunsford said.

"The investigators will be looking at all of that to try and determine what happened."

Midlothian firefighters were in the area shortly after the crash and the wreckage ignited a large grass fire, The Dallas Morning News reported.

"We immediately started to extinguish the fire, but there were no survivors," Midlothian Deputy Fire Chief Dale McCaskill told the newspaper. "The wreckage is pretty entangled."

Chief McCaskill said there were no mayday calls before the helicopter went down.

In a statement following the crash, CareFlite CEO Jim Swartz said, "We ask that you keep the families of those killed, and of all first responders in your thoughts and prayers."

The National Transportation Safety Board said it will take about a week for a preliminary report to be conducted into the cause of the crash.