PLAINVIEW, Minn. – A Mayo Clinic helicopter made an emergency landing at the Plainview High School football field en route to the main emergency room in Rochester. The patient and four crew members were unhurt. The helicopter had flown into a large bird, which cracked the windshield. This was 20 miles short of the rooftop helipad at the Rochester hospital. The patient was transferred from the helicopter to a land ambulance for the rest of the way. The incident was Friday evening, but Mayo kept a lid on the event until late Monday. Even then, there was Mayo spin: Mayo’s acknowledgement called the incident a “precautionary landing,” rather than emergency landing. The Mayo One helicopter based in Rochester has a usual service range that includes Wabasha and Winona counties. It is used mostly for traumatic accidents and hospital-to-hospital transfers. Mayo didn’t explain how it would rejigger its fleet of three med-evac helicopters — stationed in Mankato, Eau Claire and Rochester — to provide comprehensive regional med-evac service until a news windshield can be delivered to Plainview.
Publicity file shot. Of a Mayo One chopper over Rochester.
Med-evac safety
Although helicopter bird strikes are not uncommon, they can be serious with large birds. The Minnesota State Patrol has logged two significant impacts over the past five years — one with a duck, another with a larger bird.