Los Angeles County Sheriff’s divers recovered the body of the last person missing from a September 30, 2026, medical helicopter crash off Catalina Island on October 1. Officials have since named all three people killed: pilot Steven Robinson, 59, flight nurse Jessica deVries, 48, and patient Catalina Hernandez, 45.
What happened off Pebbly Beach
The Eurocopter EC135 air ambulance, registered N313RX and operated by REACH Air Medical Services, went down in the water near the Pebbly Beach helipad, about a mile from Avalon, shortly after 7:50 p.m. on September 30 as it left the island for the mainland.
Five people were aboard: Robinson, deVries, a second flight nurse, Hernandez and her 24-year-old son. According to a U.S. Coast Guard news release, its Sector Los Angeles-Long Beach command center got the first report at 7:50 p.m. from Los Angeles County Fire Department lifeguards.
Four people were pulled from the water that night. Two, the surviving nurse and Hernandez’s son, were flown to mainland hospitals with broken bones and are in stable condition. Robinson and deVries did not survive, and Hernandez could not be found.
A 23-hour search
Coast Guard and partner crews, including Los Angeles County Fire and Sheriff’s boats, Baywatch lifeguard units and a Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter, covered more than 156 square miles over a combined 23 hours before Sheriff’s divers found Hernandez’s body in the submerged wreckage, under about 218 feet of water.
The Coast Guard, quoting Sector Los Angeles-Long Beach commander Capt. Stacey Crecy, ended the search at 5:44 p.m. on October 1: “I am reassured by the speed and determination with which our responders have come together. Our thoughts remain with the families and loved ones during this difficult time.”
Who was lost, and why Hernandez was being flown
Hernandez, a longtime Avalon housekeeper, was being flown to a mainland emergency room for a severe allergic reaction, according to family members who spoke to NBC Los Angeles. Robinson had flown medevac helicopters for years, and deVries, a Menifee resident, worked as a flight nurse; the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s office confirmed both deaths before releasing Hernandez’s identification once her body was recovered.
REACH Air Medical Services, based in Oceanside, California, said in a statement that “the entire REACH family is grieving” and that it had activated its critical incident stress management team for employees and families. The company had confirmed two crew deaths within a day of the crash but, citing privacy, did not identify anyone until the medical examiner’s office did.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating what caused the crash. Air ambulance operators have drawn NTSB scrutiny before: the board’s docket on a 2022 Philadelphia-area medevac Learjet crash, for example, found that the FAA had never inspected the operator under the stricter oversight rules commercial medevac flights are supposed to get. No cause has been determined for the Catalina crash, and the NTSB has not said when it expects to release a preliminary report.
AeroCorner’s earlier report on the crash, written while Hernandez was still missing, is available at our first story on the Catalina crash.
Sources and references used for research and fact-checking.
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About the Author
Tim is the owner and lead editor of AeroCorner since 2019, overseeing aviation content covering aircraft, airlines, airports, and the broader aviation industry. Through years of researching, writing, editing, and publishing aviation-focused content, he has developed extensive practical knowledge of commercial aviation and air travel. Based in Asia and a frequent traveler himself, Tim also brings firsthand passenger experience to AeroCorner’s coverage. Outside of publishing, he has also explored aviation firsthand through hands-on flight training in New Zealand.