NTSB gets surveillance video
What appears on Route 59 station tape unknown
AURORA — As federal investigators prepare to release an early report on last week’s fatal Air Angels helicopter crash, they picked up a new piece of possible evidence on Monday.
NTSB investigator John Brannen was to return to Aurora to pick up a surveillance video taped at the Route 59 train station, about two miles east of the crash scene. He said he did not know what appears on the tape.
A city parking services worker suggested one camera be checked for any visual evidence related to the accident, according to city spokesman Amy Roth.
Just before midnight Wednesday, the Air Angels chopper carrying three crew members and a 14-month-old child went down in a field northeast of Eola Road and Liberty Street. The helicopter apparently had clipped a guy wire supporting WBIG-AM’s radio tower just west of Eola Road, causing its main rotor to detach. All four died.
A full probe into the cause is expected to take months, but a preliminary report could be released later this week, Brannen said.
“It’ll just have the factual information that we have at the time of the writing of the preliminary report,” Brannen explained Monday.
Work to shore up the radio tower was completed Saturday after a 30-member team of engineers, iron workers and tower riggers finished dismantling 295 feet of the 734-foot tower. Sections of the tower were hauled away by helicopter.
“Over a two-day period, the helicopter made more than 12 trips to the top of the tower as riggers cut sections with a torch,” WBIG president Steve Jakle said in a statement. “During the coming weeks, engineers will study the remaining tower segments to determine what further actions will be necessary.”
WBIG employees returned to the station on Monday, when regular broadcasting resumed. Jakle said WBIG’s signal is transmitted by three smaller towers located in a field behind the station.
As for the train station tape, the city worker “quite quickly” thought of checking for it after the crash, Roth said. Along with a supervisor, they viewed the tape to isolate the crash’s timeframe, she added.
“We are not doing any investigation,” Roth said. “We’re not going to comment on the tape.”
Fifty cameras monitor the 20-acre train station site.
COMPLETE COVERAGE OF AIR ANGELS CRASH
• Photos: Kirstin laid to rest
• Photos: Workers fix radio tower
• Photos: Copter crash probe begins
• Photos: Family's mourning begins
• Photos: The victims
• Photos: Crash scene
• Twitter: Latest developments
• Map: Crash site
• Tears, rain fall as tiny crash victim buried
• Flight nurse a hero: 'Gave his life for little baby'
• Hero's selfless final act offers some solace'
Monday stories
• NTSB gets surveillance video• Leland girl killed in crash laid to rest
Sunday stories
• Close-knit town asks to mourn in private
• Work finishes on damaged radio tower
Saturday stories
• Tower work complete, residents may return
• In wind, rain, workers chop up radio tower
• Radio tower well-known to local pilots
Friday stories
• Radio tower dismantled after helicopter crash
• Family of tiniest victim mourns flight crew
• Helicopter crash probe could take months
• Residents evacuating apartments near tower
• Witnesses describe the fiery crash
• Air Angels: 'We look at what's best for the patient'
• FAA under pressure to improve safety for EMS flights
• Crash turns focus on air transport safety
• Helicopter crew remembered as heroes
• Shock settles on emergency response crews
Thursday stories
• Aurora helicopter crash kills Air Angels crew, child
• Friends speak of Air Angels crew's dedication
• Witness: Debris rained down from the sky
• NTSB investigating cause of crash
• Police ask residents near crash to evacuate
• Last Air Angels crash in Fox Valley 5 years ago
