FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.—A pilot told investigators he heard a loud bang before a Florida medical rescue helicopter caught fire in flight last month, leading to a crash that killed a paramedic and a woman on the ground, a federal report released Friday said.
The twin-engine Broward County Fire-Rescue helicopter had just taken off from Pompano Beach Airpark on Aug. 28 when at about 400 feet (122 meters) pilot Daron Roche said he heard the bang, the National Transportation Safety Board’s preliminary report said. Then he saw on his control panel that one engine’s temperature was rising.
