Mercy Flight, an air ambulance service, suffered a devastating loss on Friday night as their fixed-wing aircraft crashed in a mountainous region of Nevada. The incident resulted in the death of all five people on board, including a patient and a medic who had recently become a father.
The Care Flight aircraft disappeared from flight radar around 9:45 p.m. near Stagecoach, a small community located approximately 45 miles southeast of Reno. The Lyon County Sheriff dispatchers received calls for a possible plane crash and rescue crews located the wreckage about 90 minutes later.
REMSA Health, the Reno-based medical flight service operator, issued a statement on Saturday, confirming the tragic news that none of the passengers survived. They were identified as the pilot, a flight nurse, a flight paramedic, a patient, and a patient’s family member.
Officials have not publicly identified the victims or released details about the circumstances surrounding the flight
Scott Walton, the pilot, was a father of three young girls. He was a passionate pilot dedicated to helping patients access essential medical treatments. A fundraiser set up in his memory said that he was one of those special people who lit up a room and never met a stranger.
The flight’s paramedic, 27-year-old Ryan Watson, had just become a father to a newborn son who was born one month ago. Ed Pricola, the flight nurse, was a military veteran, CrossFit enthusiast, and father of two young children. He had only been working with Care Flight since the fall.
The cause of the crash is still unknown, but authorities have cited bad weather as a contributing factor. The National Transportation Safety Board is currently investigating the incident.