Weatherford Community Reacts To Deaths Of Helicopter Medical Crew

A community remembers three men who died in a medical transport helicopter over the weekend.

Air Evac released their names on Monday, pilot Russell Haslam, flight nurse Adam Tebben, and medic Steven Fitzgerald.

Patti Stringer like others in Weatherford still can't believe the news, that the crew is gone. The three died in a helicopter crash late Saturday night after dropping off a patient in Oklahoma City. "It's an awful thing," said Patti Stringer. "They're out to take care of everybody, they've taken care of someone's life and they're on their way home and something happens and they lose their own life. It doesn't seem fair and doesn't seem right."

Lives like her own. She said an Air Evac crew helped her several years ago when doctors thought she was having a stroke. "I'm pretty sure that that pilot, that guy took me over there," Stringer said about the crew. "If it wouldn't have been for them coming in and doing what they did, yeah, it could have been disastrous."

The crew Saturday night was heading back to home base in Weatherford when the company said the control center lost contact with them. The helicopter crashed in Caddo County, less than 10 miles from Weatherford according to Mayor Mike Brown. "That's hard to think about, they were just doing their job and I know they understood there are risks that go along with that, certainly not a good ending for this particular situation," Mayor Brown said.

The outpouring on Facebook is tremendous, strangers, patients, and other first responders are all united in prayers.

"A lot of our firemen knew them and worked with them so it's tough on a lot of people and I'm thinking about the families that are affected and our prayers and thoughts certainly go with them," Mayor Brown said.

There is still no word on the cause of the crash. The company has turned the investigation over to the National Transportation Safety Board.

Related article: 3 Killed In Air Evac Crash Identified