Patient emergencies can force air ambulance crews to sometimes fly in bad weather conditions. Although there has been no confirmation, bad weather condition seems to have been the cause for the recent air ambulance crash in California. It is reported that the weather was rather wet and soggy when the patient, who was critical, was taken for a 20-minute flight via air ambulance. However, the flight was shortlived and the air ambulance crashed 10 minutes into the flight. All four crew members including the pilot, patient, paramedic and a nurse did not survive the crash.
The Fateful Moments of the Air Ambulance Crash
Kathryn Ann Brown was the 40-year-old patient who is believed to have been in a critical condition. She had to make the air ambulance flight from Porterville airport to San Joaquin Community Hospital in Bakersfield, California. However, the air ambulance crashed in a private property near McFarland. The identity of the pilot has still not been made public.
The other two crew members were paramedic, Kyle Juarez who was 37 years old and critical care nurse, Marco Lopez who was 42 years old. It is believed that both were filling in for their workmates who wanted to take off to attend a Christmas party. The air ambulance belonged to SkyLife.
Honoring the Air Ambulance Martyrs
Marco and Kyle were brought to their home for the final time on December 15th. Many people of the community lined up by the road with candles to honor them. There was a huge group of colleagues, friends and community members who were also part of it.
Todd Valeri who is the president of American Air Ambulance termed Marco and Kyle as “heros” who laid their lives down for the sake of others. He also said that they were instrumental in saving “hundreds” of people in their life-saving profession.
