After Owen County helicopter crash, former UK flight medic remembers fatal 1999 accident

Three people aboard a private medical helicopter died Monday night when their chopper crashed in Owen County. The Air Evac Lifeteam was stationed in Grant County and was on the way to pick up and transport a patient. Twenty-five years before, in June of 1999, a University of Kentucky medical helicopter went down in eastern Kentucky, killing four. Mike Poynter was a UK flight paramedic splitting shifts with them.

“I knew all the crew members, individually, personally. Actually, the flight nurse I was very close with. We were actually working on planning a family vacation for them on the computer before they left.”

Poynter said he well remembers what he said to one of his colleagues the morning of June 14, 1999 – something first responders often say to each other at the beginning of the workday.

“I remember walking across the pad as they were walking to the aircraft to get in and take off and go to Jackson, you know. And I looked at him, said, ‘Y'all be careful out there.’ And that's last time I talked to him.”

Four members of a UK crew were killed that evening when their helicopter crashed on the way back to Lexington. Poynter said air flight crews are close-knit groups and if the UK team hadn’t perished that night, they’d all still be friends. He said his heart goes out to the Air Evac Lifeteam who died, and their families, and their co-workers.

The cause of Monday night’s crash is under investigation. Initial findings from the FAA show the helicopter struck a guy wire and caught fire after crashing.

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