NTSB Final Report Points to Breakup in Fatal Air Ambulance Crash

Agency releases details of 2023 Pilatus accident in Nevada that killed five.

Meg Godlewski

Thursday, June 05, 2025 at 02:00 PM ET

Verified

Edited By:

Travis Tingle

A Pilatus PC-12 [Credit: Shutterstock]

Key Takeaways:

The NTSB cited poor weather conditions, specifically night instrument meteorological conditions (IMC), and "insufficient risk assessment" as causal factors in the February 2023 fatal air ambulance crash.
The accident occurred after the relatively inexperienced pilot became spatially disoriented in IMC, leading to a graveyard spiral, autopilot disengagement, and an in-flight breakup.
Contributing factors included the operator's failure to complete a required pre-flight risk assessment and to inform the crew of previous weather-related flight turndowns, indicating a lack of organizational oversight.

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The National Transportation Safety Board cites poor weather and “insufficient risk assessment” as causal factors in the February 2023 fatal crash of an air ambulance Pilatus PC-12/15 in Stagecoach, Nevada.

The pilot, two medical crewmembers, and two passengers were killed when the aircraft experienced a midflight breakup shortly after takeoff. The Pilatus was operating in night instrument meteorological conditions (IMC).

According to the 27-page NTSB final report released this week, the flight was a nonemergency transport of a patient from Reno-Tahoe International Airport (KRNO) to Salt Lake City International Airport (KSLC) in Utah.