Day/date: Wednesday, September 24, 1986

Log number: 86-19
Date/time of incident: 9/23, 2pm    Date/time received: 9/24, 10 am
Park: Blue Ridge Parkway            Location: Fishers Peak (outside park)
Reported by: Don Russell, RAD/SERO  Phone(s): FTS 242-4916
Received by: Bob Zarger, RAD/WASO   Phone(s): 343-4209
Follow up:                          Phone(s):
Summary:
A medevac helicopter from Baughman Gray Baptist Hospital in
Winston-Salem, North Carolina, was en-route to Fishers Peak, Virginia,
to pick up a patient when it crashed into a rock face of the mountain
in heavy fog. The pilot and two nurses were killed.

The crash site is about 200 yards from the park's boundary, and the park
staff is assisting the Virginia state Police at the scene.

Persons involved:
Name                          Address         DOB or age
          ** Information not available **



                                            THE WASHINGTON POST
C8 WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1986

AROUND THE REGION
Pilot, 2 Nurses
Die as Copter Hits
Virginia Mountain

Three persons were killed yesterday when an ambulance helicopter crashed
on Fisher's Peak in Carroll County, Va., near the North Carolina border,
authorities said.

The crash occurred about 1 p.m. as the helicopter was flying from North
Carolina Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem to Twin County Community
Hospital in Galax, Va., to pick up a patient, said Baptist Hospital
spokesman Roger Rollman.

Rollman identified the dead as pilot B.D. and nurses K.S. and B.B. He
said the pilot was an employe of the Air Care program at the hospital
and the nurses worked at the hospital.

N.L. of Lambsburg, Va., a tiny community near the crash site,
said the helicopter flew regularly past her house on trips to and from
Twin County Community Hospital. Yesterday, she said, something seemed
wrong.

"We thought it was having difficulty, because it was louder than usual,"
she said. "It seemed to be a little lower than usual. We thought it was
awfully low going toward the mountain."

A few minutes after the helicopter flew by, N.L. said, she heard a
"big kaboom" and called the Carroll County Sheriff's Department.