High Wycombe helicopter crash: Man fighting for life and two others injured
Written by News on 06/05/2017
A man is in hospital with life-threatening injuries following a helicopter crash.
Three men were in the aircraft when it came down at Wycombe Air Park near High Wycombe, in Buckinghamshire.
Among them was the helicopter’s owner, who was being taught to fly it at the time by an instructor.
Andy Nunnen, groundsman at the airfield, was one of the first people at the scene.
He told Sky News: "Approaching I couldn’t see anyone self-evacuating so I thought there were people trapped.
"I could see the smoke so my first thoughts were to make sure this incident doesn’t get worse, make sure a fire doesn’t happen, make the area safe so that we could perform a rescue, put a fire blanket on the ground.
"It was quite a tricky extraction actually and we were glad when the local authority turned up with their kit and some extra muscle."
It is believed that one of the men suffered a heart attack but it is not yet clear whether this happened before or after the crash.
An off-duty paramedic, who was at the airport waiting for his own flying lesson when the helicopter came down, was able to provide treatment to the most seriously injured patient before ambulance crews arrived.
The helicopter was resting on its side with the three occupants outside on the grass when paramedics arrived at the scene.
The two most serious casualties were taken to the major trauma unit at John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.
One suffered life-threatening injuries, while another had serious head, chest, leg, abdominal and shoulder injuries.
The third man suffered "less serious back injuries", South Central Ambulance Service said. He was taken to hospital in Slough.
Emergency services were alerted shortly after 9.30am.
The cause of the crash is unlikely to be mechanical, according to experts, because the helicopter was only a year old.
The aircraft itself is not based at the airfield and does not belong to any of the companies on site.
The Air Accidents Investigation Branch has been informed.
(c) Sky News 2017: High Wycombe helicopter crash: Man fighting for life and two others injured
