Part of a helicopter rotor ended up lodged into the roof of a residential garage, and a paramedic aboard called in a mayday after spotting the aircraft had lost power shortly moments before the helicopter crashed on Highway 50 in Sacramento last month.
Those were some of the details included in a National Transportation Safety Board preliminary report on the Oct. 6 helicopter crash that seriously injured flight nurse Susan Smith, pilot Chad Millward and paramedic Margaret “DeDe” Davis, shortly after the aircraft took off from UC Davis Medical Center.
Smith, 67, of Palo Cedro near Redding, died of her injuries four days later. She was a veteran of 50 years in nursing, the last 21 years at Reach Air Medical Services. Millward and Davis are recovering and have been released from the hospital…