Camera may have captured chopper crash
Surveillance footage from the Aurora Transportation Center at Route 59 may have captured the Oct. 15 helicopter crash that claimed four lives, city officials said Monday.
City spokeswoman Amy Roth said a staff member at the transportation center realized shortly after the crash that cameras may have recorded the accident. Roth said the tape was turned over to Aurora police, who were expected to turn it over to National Transportation Safety Board investigators.
Aurora police are not commenting on the federal board's investigation. Board spokesman Terry Williams said he is aware of the video, but NTSB officials had not viewed it as of late Monday afternoon.
Roth said city officials have not viewed the tape, either, but they believe it may show the crash. She said it may help determine whether the WBIG tower lights were on at the time the Air Angels medevac helicopter apparently clipped an antenna support wire before crashing near Eola Road on the city's far east side.
Killed in the crash were 14-month-old Kirstin Blockinger, pilot Del Waugh, nurse William Mann and medic Ron Battiato.
The three-member crew was taking Kirstin from Valley West Hospital in Sandwich to Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago when the helicopter crashed shortly before midnight Oct. 15.
Funeral services were held Monday for Kirstin and Mann.
A preliminary report is expected later this week from the NTSB.
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