An Update from Flight For Life

Pat once told Karen she needed to be his voice if he ever died in a crash. It’s why she decided to talk with 9Wants to Know. She said not too long before he died, they had a conversation about the nature of civilian helicopters. “He said it was like flying on a gas can. If it goes down, it explodes,” she said.

A recent investigation by 9Wants to Know found 85% of the civilian helicopters in the skies today do not have fuel systems that would pass the latest Federal Aviation Administration standards – standards that are now more than 20 years old.

Surveillance video of the crash exclusively obtained by 9Wants to Know shows fuel pouring out of the Flight for Life helicopter five seconds after the aircraft hit the hospital’s parking lot. All three passengers – Pat Mahany and flight nurses Matt Bowe and Dave Repsher – survived the impact. Within ten seconds, a fire was building and quickly surrounding all three within a wall of flames.

Dave was first to exit the helicopter, but because his flight suit was coated in fuel he was covered in flames when he staggered away. He remains hospitalized to this day with burns over most of his body. Pat suffered numerous internal injuries, most of which came as a result of the initial impact. While the fire didn’t kill him, an autopsy suggested it played a role in his death.

Karen remains upset about the lack of updated standards for helicopter fuel systems, but she is equally upset over the lack of updated safety standards for energy-absorbing seats. Better seats, she said, would have protected Pat upon impact and likely would have saved his life.

This week, Karen will go to Washington D.C. to try to convince members of Congress to push the FAA to update the standards for helicopter seats and fuel systems.

FRISCO, Colo. (CBS4)– After a record settlement in a helicopter crash that killed the pilot and nearly killed him, fight nurse Dave Repsher is ready to start anew.

Getting back out is Dave’s daily goal. “I really want to go rafting and get some skates on and play some hockey.”

“Move home is a big one. We want to move home so badly,” Dave and his wife Amanda agreed.

Medical needs make it a difficult goal in spite of a settlement in a lawsuit against the helicopter manufacturer and the aircraft owner that’s believed to be the highest pre-trial settlement in U.S. history at $100 million.

Dave’s medical care is far from over and will total in the tens of millions of dollars over his lifetime. He’s become involved with the Dawg Nation Hockey Foundation that helped him. And this week he testified in favor of the Colorado Living Organ Donor Support Act along with Matt Martinez, who donated a kidney to help Dave after his kidneys were ruined by heavy antibiotics.