The death of an 87-year-old woman who was blown over by a search-and-rescue helicopter landing at a hospital was an accident, an inquest jury has found.
Jean Langan, a retired civil servant, was walking with her niece to her car after having a hearing aid fitted at Derriford hospital in Plymouth in March 2022 when a downwash caused by the helicopter knocked them to the ground.
Dr Amanda Jeffery, a Home Office pathologist, told a jury at Exeter coroner’s court that Langan sustained significant head injuries and died about three-and-a-half hours later.
The court heard that the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) had investigated and published a report on the incident last November, identifying a number of failings that posed a risk to the public. Most significantly, the report said members of the public were not kept away from the hospital’s helipad when helicopters were landing.
The senior coroner Ian Arrow told jurors they would not be investigating the AAIB’s findings, meaning there would be no evidence from witnesses from when Langan was injured. The inquest heard that the car park had now been permanently closed to the public.
At the conclusion of the inquest, Arrow told Langan’s family: “You were attending a normal hospital appointment and for the incident to develop as it did, it is something that shouldn’t have happened. I shall be writing to the Department for Transport in due course.”
He added: “Thank you, members of the family, for your dignity and the interest you have taken in trying to prevent this happening to other people.”
The family released a statement through Devon county council saying: “Jean’s death was a devastating, tragic event, which should never have happened.”
They said Langan had “every right” to expect to be safe while walking on public footpath on hospital grounds. They described her as the matriarch of the family who was deeply loved and “missed every day”.
The family said they were disappointed that witness statements about what happened were not allowed to be read during the inquest.
“Through the investigation process, we have been made aware that there were multiple failings across a range of agencies which led to this fatal incident,” they said. “The family trust that these proceedings, along with the actions which have been proposed and those that are being taken by all agencies involved, will, as a result, mean that this terrible situation can never happen again to anybody else.”
