Chicago Area Local News

AURORA, Ill. (CBS) ― Four people died in the chopper crash early Thursday, including a 14-month-old girl, a patient on board. CBS 2's Mike Puccinelli talked with witnesses at the crash scene in Aurora.

Janine Keating watched the helicopter burn in a field across from her home. She was asleep when the sound of the crash jolted her out of bed. Learning that three men lost their lives while trying to save the life of a 14-month-old girl as part of an Air Angels mission felt like an even worse kind of jolt for this medical professional.

"It just hits," Keating said. "I work in a hospital."

The people on the helicopter were rushing late Wednesday to Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago. They took off from a hospital in Sandwich and crashed to the earth after witness Robert Frost said the aircraft hit the 734-foot radio tower near the top, just before midnight. He says there were telltale signs of distress.

"Your heart's in your throat," he said. "(It was a) God-help-me type deal. It took me right back. I thought I was in 9-11 all over again."

National Transportation Safety Board investigators say the pilot had been in contact with air traffic controllers before the crash but nothing seemed amiss at that time.

"We don't have any indication at this point that there was a distress call from the helicopter," said John Brannen, NTSB senior investigator. "As far as whether the helicopter was in distress and was descending for that reason, we can't speculate on that."

The young girl was identified as Kirstian Blockinger, of the LaSalle County village of Leland. The members of the Air Angels crew that died were: nurse William Mann, 31, of Chicago; pilot Dell Waugh, 69, of Carmel, Ind., and paramedic Ronald Battiato, 41, of Peotone.

Combing through what's left of the helicopter should help provide answers. The rotor, which separated from the rest of the aircraft, was photographed where it fell to the ground before investigators had it hauled away. While NTSB investigators worry about the cause of the crash, Aurora Fire Department brass was worried about the stability of the radio tower that was noticeably leaning today after the impact.

"It does appear at this time that the tower is a little bit out of plum -- approximately 15 feet as stated by the engineer who was in charge of engineering that tower structure," Fire Department Assistant Chief John Lehman said.

Reverse 911 messages are being sent to more than 1,600 homes in the areas urging residents to evacuate because of the radio tower's stability problems. An official ruling about the cause of the crash may take six months to determine.

 SLIDESHOW: Deadly Aurora Helicopter Crash

Aurora firefighters found the helicopter in the Night Heron Marsh Forest Preserve on Eola road just north of Liberty Street, fully engulfed in flames, Aurora police spokesman Sgt. Robb Wallers said. 

Air Angels Inc. is an emergency medical transport service based at Clow Airport in southwest suburban Bolingbrook.

Rescue crews went to check if anyone was alive in the wreckage, and the found the four deceased victims, including three crew members and the little girl, Wallers said.

"The impact was tremendous. The debris is scattered over that area that I explained is 75 to 100 feet," Lehman said, "and so there really is no aircraft left."

Children's Memorial Hospital spokeswoman Julie Pesch initially said the child was being transported to the hospital because of epileptic seizures. She later said she could not reveal the reason for the transport because of privacy rules.

But the girl's family friends said she had been suffering seizures since she was 5 months old, and had been to the emergency room numerous times. The seizure she suffered Wednesday night was the most severe ever, family friends said. Read More

Pesch said the child was en route to the Chicago hospital after a closer hospital indicated there was no room for her there.

"Our Pediatric Intensive Care Unit was full last night," said Amy Jo Steinbruecker, spokeswoman at Central DuPage Hospital in Winfield, which is about 20 miles closer to Sandwich than Chicago.

The crash occurred before the helicopter would have reached either hospital.

The crash site is in the residential area, across the street from a radio station with a tower nearly 700 feet tall. Officials believe the helicopter may have clipped one of the guy wires that support the tower before crashing.

A snapped wire could be seen hanging from the 734-foot tower that stands across a busy road from the crash site.


CBS 2's Mike Puccinelli, Joanie Lum, Kris Habermehl, the Associated Press and the STNG Wire contributed to this report.

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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