Investigation finds medications were contributing factor in medical
flight crash
[June 14, 2025]
CHELSEA, Ala. (AP) — Federal investigators found that a pilot’s
medication use may have been a contributing factor in a 2023 medical
helicopter crash that killed two in Alabama.
The National Transportation Safety Board released the final report this
month on the April 2, 2023, accident. The Airbus EC130 medical
helicopter crashed near the community of Chelsea in Shelby County with
the three crew aboard. The pilot and a nurse on the flight were killed.
The helicopter was responding to a call when the crash occurred.
The final investigative report said the probable cause was “the pilot's
delayed corrective inputs while maneuvering, which resulted in a loss of
control.”
The report found that a contributing factor was the pilot’s use of
multiple medications that had a potential sedating effect.
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An autopsy found the pilot had cyclobenzaprine, a muscle relaxer, and
the allergy medications cetirizine and diphenhydramine in his system.
The medications have the potential to depress the central nervous
system, investigators wrote.
The use of the multiple medications "likely worsened this performance
deficiency,” investigators wrote in the report.
A witness told investigators the helicopter had been hovering along
about three or four feet (0.9 to 1.2 meters) beside a road before the
crash The helicopter then rapidly ascended, turned and “pitched nose
down and impacted the road.”
Chelsea is about 20 miles (32 kilometers) southeast of downtown
Birmingham.
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