PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — Investigators from the Federal Aviation Administration arrived in the city Friday to determine what caused Wednesday’s crash of a medical transport plane with four people on board.
An engine caught fire on takeoff from Northern Maine Regional Airport, and when the pilot tried to return and land the plane, it crashed short of the runway, according to a statement released on Wednesday by The Aroostook Medical Center.
All four people on board — the pilot, a patient, paramedic and nurse — were injured and were being evaluated at the hospital, TAMC Communications Manager Karen Gonya indicated Wednesday.
The names of the injured were not released and Gonya said Friday that she could not provide any further information about the patients due to health care privacy regulations.
She referred questions about the accident to officials at the airport. Scott Wardwell, director at Northern Maine Regional Airport, was unavailable for comment Friday.
TAMC with Fresh Air LLC, which owns the fixed-wing plane, to transport patients to receive specialized care at different hospitals. Gonya did not say where the patient was being transported when the accident happened.
Deputy Fire Chief Adam Rider of the Presque Isle Fire Department said that investigators from the FAA arrived at the airport just after noon Friday. He said that he could not release any further information about the crash and referred additional questions to the FAA. Calls to the agency were not returned Friday.
