Federal investigators can't determine exact cause of 2022 helicopter crash near Philadelphia

Federal investigators say they're unable determine the exact cause of the crash of a medical helicopter that nose-dived over suburban Philadelphia two years ago

UPPER DARBY, Pa. -- Federal investigators say they have been unable to determine what caused a medical flight to go haywire before the helicopter crash-landed without losing any lives nearly two years ago.

The pilot somehow avoided a web of power lines and buildings as it came out of a nose-dive, slamming sideways to the ground next to a church in suburban Philadelphia.

The National Transportation Safety Board said in its final report dated Jan. 4 that the Eurocopter EC135 was flying from Chambersburg toward a Philadelphia hospital at an altitude of about 1,500 feet when it abruptly increased its altitude and then went into a steep dive over Drexel Hill.

The pilot was able to recover from what surveillance video showed was a “near-vertical, nose-down, spiraling descent” but “was unable to climb or hover” due to insufficient engine power, and the aircraft crashed, the safety board said.

The helicopter, owned by Denver-based Air Methods, part of the LifeNet program based in Hagerstown, Maryland, was transporting an infant girl, the pilot and two medical crew members when it came down at about 1 p.m. on Jan. 11, 2022 next to Drexel Hill United Methodist Church in Upper Darby. The pilot was seriously injured.