Bad Weather May Have Caused Medic Copter Crash

ROCHELLE, Ill. (AP) – Rockford hospital officials say the pilot of its helicopter encountered bad weather and was trying to return to the hangar before it crashed in a field in Lee County, killing the pilot and two nurses.

The pilot Andy Olesen radioed to the hospital dispatch to report that he had “encountered some weather” while heading to another hospital to pick up a patient Monday night. Olesen and flight nurses Karen Hollis and Jim Dillow died when the plane crashed about 8:30 p.m. near Rochelle, about 70 miles west of Chicago. No patients were aboard at the time.

The hospital bought the helicopter in 1991, and it had a “perfect safety record.”