An 87-year-old woman suffered fatal head injuries when she was blown over by a search and rescue helicopter as it landed at a hospital, an inquest jury has heard.
Jean Langan had attended Derriford hospital in Plymouth, Devon, to have a hearing aid fitted and was walking with a relative back to their vehicle in the hospital car park.
In a statement, her family described how Langan and her niece, Gael Hill, were “blown over by downwash from a helicopter”.
The statement, read out to the jury by the coroner Ian Arrow, said Langan, a retired civil servant, suffered head injuries on 4 March 2022 and died a short time later.
Arrow said: “Shortly before her death, Mrs Langan was in the hospital car park. A search and rescue helicopter carrying a patient was coming in to land at the nearby hospital helipad.
“Mrs Langan was blown over by the downwash, that is the fast-moving air that was created by the helicopter landing.”
The family described their shock at her “sudden and violent death”. They said: “Jean was the most senior member of our family. She had always been there for all of our lives. The violent manner of her death has affected us all.
“She would have hated the publicity that the circumstances surrounding her death have generated. As a result, she lost the quiet dignity that she would have chosen.”
The statement described how Langan was renowned in the civil service for her efficiency and “doted” on her children and grandchildren.
“She was always on the go,” her family said, describing her as an expert knitter who walked the family’s dog every day. “Jean was elderly and we knew that one day we would lose her. However, the manner of her death has affected us immensely. Jean was doing nothing wrong.”
The inquest jury watched CCTV footage from the hospital car park showing passersby rushing to help Langan and Hill and then paramedics attending to them.
Dr Amanda Jeffery, a Home Office pathologist, told the inquest that Langan, who weighed 7st 12lbs, sustained “significant” head injuries.
She said: “Mrs Langan had attended a routine audiology appointment at Derriford hospital with her niece and was returning to their parked car when a helicopter came in to land. Mrs Langan was swept off her feet, causing her to fall backwards on to the ground.”
Jeffery said Langan died about three and a half hours after the incident, with the medical cause of her death given as a head injury.
The inquest at Devon County Hall in Exeter on Monday is due to last for five days.
