Medical helicopter grounded after FAA can't be reached, rescuers say

Officials with a suburban emergency helicopter service will investigate why they could not promptly get flight approval from the Federal Aviation Administration on Friday night to help a 4-year-old Oakwood Hills boy who had fallen out of a second-story window.

The incident coincided with temporary flight restrictions prompted by President Obama's holiday-weekend trip to Chicago. When a Flight for Life pilot repeatedly called an FAA number to get permission to travel, the line was busy, Flight for Life spokeswoman Tammy Chatman said late Friday night.

Eventually, firefighters with the Cary Fire Protection District drove the boy - who suffered a cut lip and possible head injuries but was expected to survive - to the Flight for Life hangar at Centegra Northern Illinois Medical Center. By that time, the organization had the FAA's permission to fly and flew the boy to Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge.

The earlier busy signals concerned Chatman, however.

"We are investigating it, and we are working to make sure it doesn't happen again," she said. "To us or to anyone."

The unidentified boy was hurt about 6 p.m. in the fall on the 5500 block of Greenview Road. He fell about 12 feet onto a brick surface, Cary Fire Protection District Capt. Dennis Krenz said.

Firefighters wanted to fly the boy by emergency helicopter to an area hospital. But Krenz said a dispatcher told him they couldn't because of the president's visit.

Instead, they drove him from one of their fire stations - where the boy had been taken in anticipation of a helicopter flight - to the hospital. The journey took eight minutes, Krenz said.

The presidential flight-restriction zone extends about 30 nautical miles from O'Hare International Airport. It started Friday and lasts through 5:30 p.m. Monday.

The situation didn't sit well with Krenz.

"I was a little concerned," he said. "What happened if there was a major accident on the expressway and they needed four or five helicopters?"

Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Elizabeth Isham Cory was baffled by Krenz's story. Approved air ambulance flights are allowed during presidential temporary flight restrictions, as are commercial flights and other forms of air travel, said Cory, who's based at the FAA's Great Lakes regional headquarters in Des Plaines.

"I have no idea what that's all about," Cory said of Krenz's comments.

A White House spokesman couldn't be reached for comment.

Information about the Chicago-area flight restrictions prompted by Obama's visit can be found at tfr.faa.gov/save pages/detail 0 2901.html.

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