Officials at Mercy Medical Center-North Iowa say the Mercy Air Med helicopter flight crew is back in service. Tuesday was the first day of resuming flights after three people were killed last month when a Mercy Air Med helicopter crashed a mile north of Ventura.
The flight crew consists of five flight nurses, four paramedics and four pilots with the hospital continuing the process to hire replacements for Shell Langenbau and Russell Piehl, two Mercy employees along with pilot Gene Grell, who were lost in the crash.
Medical helicopter services from Cedar Rapids, Des Moines, Sioux City and Waterloo have been helping to provide helicopter service to Mercy-North Iowa in the interim. A temporary helicopter has been provided by Med-Trans Corporation of Dallas, the air service provider for Mercy-North Iowa.
By Bob Fisher, KRIB, Mason City