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#1
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10-08-2025, 04:28 PM
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 ✝Mudderator from Hell✝ Poster Rank:11 e-mail Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 95,550
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Medical Helicopter Crash on Highway 50
As of Tuesday, three people remain hospitalized after a harrowing helicopter crash on U.S. Highway 50 in Sacramento. It happened on Monday around 7 p.m. The video shows the aircraft plummeting onto eastbound lanes near 59th Street, scattering debris but avoiding ground vehicles. Radio chatter from a witnessing officer describes at least one person trapped. This prompted the Fire Capt to call for nearby drivers to assist. About 15 bystanders lifted the helicopter, allowing responders to free the pinned paramedic. The crash, involving an Airbus EC130 T2, shut down Highway 50 for hours. The NTSB, FAA, CHP, and Sacramento Sheriff’s Office are investigating the cause. All three crew members remain in critical but stable condition. That route is widely recognized as one of the area’s busiest roads, but some may not realize just how close it was to the Elmhurst residential area, where dozens of homes and people are still shaken from the incident. |
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#2
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10-09-2025, 12:50 AM
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| ♚ Legacy Gold Member ♚ Poster Rank:98 Male Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 16,745 Mentioned: 7 Post(s) Quoted: 4606 Post(s)
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Re: Medical Helicopter Crash on Highway 50
That white smoke is raw fuel, being pumped into the hot engine, and boiling off. Luckily it didn't ignite. But they must have had their boost pumps on and running to do that.  |
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#3
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10-09-2025, 06:13 AM
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 My Rank: SERGEANT MAJOR Poster Rank:289 Join Date: Dec 2009 Posts: 4,484 Mentioned: 5 Post(s) Quoted: 873 Post(s)
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Re: Medical Helicopter Crash on Highway 50
Looking at the EC130 T2 info I can find, the machine has two fuel boost pumps that should be ON in flight. In the event of an engine failure the fuel boost pumps should be ON to support a potential restart. However, once restart attempts have been abandoned the fuel boost pumps should be switched OFF (for multiple reasons including reducing electrical drain but also avoiding the risk of pissing fuel everywhere if you don't land relatively smoothly upright on your skids!). They were climbing out and didn't get very high (about 500ft)/fast to have a lot of energy for autorotation, which means the pilot did a great job to land where they did. But it would appear that they ran out of time to run all the checklists as they normally would. |
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#4
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10-09-2025, 10:19 PM
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 ★ Legacy Member ★ Poster Rank:118 Secret Agent Join Date: Dec 2009 Posts: 13,697 Mentioned: 6 Post(s) Quoted: 2866 Post(s)
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Re: Medical Helicopter Crash on Highway 50
That made for a very long commute for many of those travelers. I was just Sac a week ago on a road trip. Glad it didn’t land/crash inches from me.  |
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#5
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10-09-2025, 10:26 PM
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 ★ Legacy Member ★ Poster Rank:72 male Join Date: Apr 2010 Posts: 21,158
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Re: Medical Helicopter Crash on Highway 50
Need more information on that one, the report should tell us what went wrong.  |
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#6
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10-11-2025, 12:10 AM
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 My Rank: MAJOR Poster Rank:194 male Join Date: Mar 2021 Posts: 7,766 Mentioned: 2 Post(s) Quoted: 1466 Post(s)
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Re: Medical Helicopter Crash on Highway 50
Not very often the citizens get to rescue an EMT. Cool how that went, and all survived, including no ground casualties on that crowded road!  |
