LODD: Mercy Flight New York

A Mercy Flight New York helicopter was involved in a fatal crash Tuesday killing both on board.

New York State Troopers confirmed that the medical helicopter was on a training flight at the time, crashed near Norton Road, between Edgerton and Ford roads, around 1:00 PM.

“At this point we don’t know why the helicopter went down,” Major Eugene Staniszewski said near the crash site.

The two pilots on board — James E. Sauer, 60, of Churchville, a Mercy Flight pilot and a retired New York State Police civilian pilot and Bell Helicopter employee and flight instructor Stewart M. Dietrick, 60, of Prosper, Texas — were both pronounced dead at the scene, according to State Police. Their bodies were transported to the Monroe County Medical Examiner’s Office.

Mercy Flight New York

Mercy Flight is an EMS provider and a not-for-profit medical transport service that services western New York, including the Rochester region, as well as parts of northwestern Pennsylvania and Canada.

The Buffalo-based service has numerous flight bases around western New York. According to the Mercy Flight website, its flight headquarters is in Batavia, Genesee County. Staniszewski said the involved helicopter was from the Batavia Mercy Flight base.

This has been a hard week for the responder community in New York. Earlier this week we reported on another New York LODD in Brooklyn, New York taking the life of Ladder 170’s Timothy Klein.