{"id":488154,"date":"2026-10-07T15:28:15","date_gmt":"2026-10-07T15:28:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/488154\/"},"modified":"2026-10-07T15:28:15","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T15:28:15","slug":"1-year-since-fatal-helicopter-crash-on-highway-50","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/488154\/","title":{"rendered":"1 year since fatal helicopter crash on Highway 50"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Jeremiah\"Anahita<\/a>SACRAMENTO, Calif. \u2014<\/p>\n

It’s been one year since a medical helicopter crashed on Highway 50<\/a> in Sacramento, leaving one person dead and two others injured. <\/p>\n

The crash happened on Oct. 6 just east of Stockton Boulevard around 7 p.m., and prompted acts of heroism as bystanders assisted first responders to rescue those on board.<\/a> <\/p>\n

Three people were on board the helicopter at the time of the crash: pilot Chad Millward, paramedic Margaret “Dede” Davis, and nurse “Suzie” Smith.<\/p>\n

Smith died four days after the crash. Millward and Davis were later released from the hospital and received rehabilitative care. <\/p>\n

Kenneth DeCrescenzo said his night began with plans to pick up a friend from the airport, but things quickly took a turn. <\/p>\n

“I saw that the trajectory of the helicopter wasn’t right. It was going down towards the freeway. And I said to my neighbor who was with me, that that didn’t look right,” DeCrescenzo said.<\/p>\n

Moments later, the helicopter crashed right in front of them. <\/p>\n

“We saw the helicopter literally crash right in front of us. That cloud of brown dust and white, brown and white dust and smoke,” he said. <\/p>\n

First responders called out for help, and bystanders, including DeCrescenzo, stepped in to assist. <\/p>\n

“I just grabbed a spot on the helicopter and started lifting when they told us to, miss about 15 other people, I think that were there also who helped to lift them off of her,” DeCrescenzo said.<\/p>\n

The REACH Air Medical Services helicopter had just taken off from UC Davis Medical Center and was in the air for only 26 seconds.<\/p>\n

A preliminary report<\/a> from the National Transportation Safety Board said that an on-board paramedic noticed the helicopter’s power had gone out and that the aircraft was autorotating toward the highway. <\/p>\n

Davis was later identified as the paramedic. She subsequently made a mayday call on the company Flight Guard frequency. <\/p>\n

NTSB said there were apparent signs of main rotor damage on a nearby home’s fence that enclosed the highway. <\/p>\n

No other vehicles were hit by the helicopter or involved in the crash, officials said. <\/p>\n

Sacramento Fire Capt. Justin Sylvia reflected on the incident, noting its significance for the department. <\/p>\n

“I can’t believe it’s already been a year since this incident. This was something that was a major incident for the Sacramento Fire Department,” Sylvia said.<\/p>\n

The first call came in as someone was pinned or trapped in a vehicle, but the situation quickly evolved as more information came in. <\/p>\n

“We’re en route to the call thinking two things. Are there vehicles involved? How many vehicles involved? How many ambulances are we going to need for all the victims that we have on scene? And what shape is that helicopter in? Is it on fire?” Sylvia said. <\/p>\n

He added that the crash has influenced how the department responds to similar calls in the future. <\/p>\n

“We have that slide in our slide deck now to call for those resources quicker, because there’s always going to be a lag time if you wait just a few minutes or five minutes, ten minutes, it’s going to take that much extra time to get those units on scene,” Sylvia said. <\/p>\n

For those who witnessed the crash firsthand, the experience has left a lasting impact. <\/p>\n

“A helicopter was coming in for a landing on their heliport, and it was right over us. And actually, all four of us had been in the van and at the accident. And I think, you know, it was kind of a very eerie feeling,” DeCrescenzo said.<\/p>\n

See more coverage of top California stories here<\/a> | Download our app<\/a> | Subscribe to our morning newsletter<\/a> | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SACRAMENTO, Calif. \u2014 It’s been one year since a medical helicopter crashed on Highway 50 in Sacramento, leaving…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":488155,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[190629,1581,2905,7,2045,350,9905,190630,5304,190628,2047,783,1575,1571,26434,2048,190627,5855,13025,2049,190626,190631,190625,1594,10105,1585,5853,190632,121,123,122,1573,3082,1574,1631,72],"class_list":["post-488154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sacramento","tag-autorotating","tag-board","tag-bystander","tag-california","tag-chad-millward","tag-crash","tag-davis","tag-deadly-medical-helicopter-crash","tag-fatal-collision","tag-flight-guard","tag-flight-nurse","tag-helicopter","tag-highway","tag-highway-50","tag-main-rotor-damage","tag-margaret-dede-davis","tag-mayday-call","tag-medical-helicopter-crash","tag-national-transportation-safety-board","tag-ntsb","tag-oct-6","tag-on-board-paramedic","tag-one-year-later","tag-other","tag-paramedic","tag-paramedic-margaret","tag-pilot","tag-pilot-chad-millward","tag-sacramento","tag-sacramento-headlines","tag-sacramento-news","tag-smith","tag-stockton-boulevard","tag-suzie","tag-suzie-smith","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=488154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488154\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/488155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=488154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=488154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=488154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}