Air ambulance apparently lost power before deadly crash in Elko, NTSB says

The wreckage of an American Medflight plane sits in the Barrick Gold Corp. parking lot in Elko, Nev., Saturday, Nov. 19, 2016. (Jeffry Mullins/The Daily Free Press via AP)

Flames rise from the wreckage of an American Medflight plane, Friday, Nov. 18, 2016, after it crashed in Elko on Friday, Nov. 18, 2016. Toni R. Milano/The Daily Free Press via AP)

ELKO, Nev. —­­ An air ­ambulance plane appeared to lose power immediately after takeoff from the Elko Regional Airport before it crashed and burned, killing all four people on board, the National Transportation Safety Board said Thursday.

The twin-­engine aircraft bound for a Salt Lake City hospital on Nov. 18 was still making its initial climb about a half ­mile from the runway when it turned left about 30 degrees and stopped climbing, the NTSB said in a preliminary accident report.

A witness told the NTSB the turbine-­powered, Piper “Cheyenne II” operated by Reno-­based American Medflight Inc. then made an abrupt left bank and descended out of his line of sight before crashing into a parking lot and bursting into flames.

Compressed medical gas bottles led to several secondary explosions after the crash, the NTSB said. Several vehicles in the parking lot were burned by the resulting fire, and the airplane was heavily damaged by flames.

The pilot was killed along with two medical crew members and a patient who was headed for heart surgery at the University of Utah Medical Center in Salt Lake City about 230 miles away. No one on the ground was hurt.

All major structural components of the plane were located within the wreckage in the Barrick Gold Corp. parking lot near Interstate 80, about 290 miles east of Reno, the NTSB said.

Detailed examinations of the airframe and engines are pending, and the cause of the crash remains under investigation.

The NTSB indicated weather didn’t play a role in the crash in clear conditions with visibility up to 10 miles.