Three Lives Lost Off Catalina, and the Work They Did

There is a particular cruelty in a crash that takes the very people who spent their lives trying to save others. On a Wednesday evening off the coast of Catalina Island, a medical helicopter lifted off from Pebbly Beach with a patient aboard—a woman suffering an allergic reaction, being airlifted to the mainland. Minutes later, it went down in the water, and three of the five people aboard were killed. Among them were the pilot and a flight nurse, whose names were confirmed this week as Steven Robinson and Jessica deVries. They were the ones who flew toward emergencies, who carried the sick and the injured across the dark water, and who did not return.

The crash occurred at approximately 7:50 p.m. near the helipad at Pebbly Beach, about a mile from Avalon. The Federal Aviation Administration identified the aircraft as a Eurocopter EC135 operated by REACH Air Medical Services. The helicopter was found under roughly 218 feet of water, and the cause of the crash remains under investigation by federal safety authorities. Conditions that night were not immediately disclosed, and it is not yet known whether the aircraft experienced a mechanical failure, encountered weather, or suffered some other issue in the seconds after takeoff.

Robinson was 59 years old, a man whose aviation career extended far beyond his service as a medical pilot. According to REACH, he had served as a U.S. Marine Corps helicopter pilot and had flown Marine One in support of a former U.S. president. His family described him as a devoted husband, father, and friend, and said they were grateful for the extraordinary impact he had on so many people. The Oceanside Fire Department, where the helicopter had been based for more than a decade, noted that the crew had long-standing ties to the department—a relationship that made the loss feel personal to first responders who had worked alongside them.

Jessica deVries was 48 or 49 years old, depending on the record, a flight nurse whose career had begun as an emergency medical technician after high school and had grown into a specialization in trauma and critical care. She had served nearly twenty years as a nurse, including a period with the San Bernardino County Fire Protection District as an EMS flight nurse and educator. The department said she dedicated herself to caring for others and made a lasting impression on coworkers, students, and patients. Her son, Gavin, told reporters she was a true hero and a great mother. She loved what she did, he said, and she would be remembered for her strength.

The patient being transported, identified as 45-year-old Catalina Hernandez, a mother of three from Avalon, also died in the crash. Her body was recovered Thursday after an extensive search. Her son, who was flying with her, survived and was being treated at a hospital for several broken bones. The other survivor, flight nurse Brad Sparks, was taken to UCLA Medical Center and remained under medical care. REACH’s Pacific region president, Sean Russell, said the tragedy had touched every corner of the organization and that the crew members represented the very best in air medical care—skill, courage, compassion, and service to others.

For the island community of Avalon and the medical teams who work in the air over the Pacific, the loss is both personal and professional. The helicopter that went down had been a familiar presence, a link between the island and the mainland hospitals that could provide care beyond what Avalon could offer. The investigation will continue, and the answers, when they come, will be technical and factual. But they will not restore what was taken: a pilot who had once flown for the president, a nurse who had spent two decades caring for strangers, and a mother who was simply trying to get help. The water off Catalina Island holds the wreckage for now. The families hold the rest.

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Sources: NBC 7 San Diego, ABC Owned Television Stations, The Spokesman-Review, CBS News, 10News.com, UPI