WASHINGTON (AP) - A federal official says a medical helicopter that crashed in South Carolina, killing three crew members, lacked safety features recommended by experts.
National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Peter Knudson tells The Washington Post that the helicopter did not have night-vision equipment or a system to warn the crew that it was flying too close to obstacles or the ground.
The NTSB has urged medical helicopter programs to adopt each of those features, saying they could have prevented some accidents.
A call and e-mail placed by The Associated Press to Knudson Thursday night were not immediately returned.
The helicopter had just dropped off a patient last month at a Charleston hospital and was flying to Conway, about 90 miles to the northeast, when it crashed in Georgetown County.
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