NTSB: Medevac Chopper Lost Power Before Crashing on CA Highway Last Month
The Sacramento Bee
(TNS)
Part of a helicopter rotor ended up lodged into the roof of a residential garage, and a paramedic aboard called in a mayday after spotting the aircraft had lost power shortly moments before the helicopter crashed on Highway 50 in Sacramento last month.
Those were some of the details included in a National Transportation Safety Board preliminary report on the Oct. 6 helicopter crash that seriously injured flight nurse Susan Smith, pilot Chad Millward and paramedic Margaret “DeDe” Davis, shortly after the aircraft took off from UC Davis Medical Center.
Smith, 67, of Palo Cedro near Redding, died of her injuries four days later. She was a veteran of 50 years in nursing, the last 21 years at Reach Air Medical Services. Millward and Davis are recovering and have been released from the hospital.
The helicopter, an Airbus H130, operated as Reach 5. Reach Air Medical Services is based at McClellan Airfield in Sacramento County.
On Tuesday, the NTSB released its preliminary report on crash that occurred on Highway 50’s eastbound lanes just west of 59th Street. The Airbus helicopter departed from a heliport tower at UC Davis Medical Center at 7:05 p.m. that evening on its way to McClellan Airfield in North Highlands.
Davis, the flight paramedic and former Marine and Navy enlistee, reported she noticed the power had gone out shortly after takeoff and the helicopter was autorotating toward Highway 50, according to the NTSB report. She made a mayday call.
The NTSB said the helicopter took off and climbed to a maximum altitude of about 500 foot shortly before the aircraft began to descend for the final 11 seconds of its flight.
The NTSB said the helicopter’s main rotor blade struck the ground on the residential side of the fence that enclosed the highway. Investigators found a section of the outer portion of the main rotor blade embedded in the roof of a home’s detached garage next to the highway.
The helicopter crashed on the highway’s eastbound lanes and came to rest on its left side, about 1,600 feet north from heliport tower where it departed moments earlier.
Millward, 60, a decorated retired California Highway Patrol pilot, managed to avoid the cars below as he crash-landed the helicopter.
Smith was trapped and grievously injured underneath the wreckage. One of the enduring images of the dramatic ordeal was stalled motorists rushing from their cars to push the downed copter off of the trapped Smith to allow rescuers to free her.
The helicopter’s fuselage and main rotor blades sustained substantial damage in the crash, according to the NTSB report. The helicopter was recovered and retained for further examination. The helicopter crash report is preliminary and subject to change.
The Bee’s Darrell Smith contributed to this story.
©2025 The Sacramento Bee. Visit sacbee.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.