MASON CITY – A medical helicopter out of Mason City’s MercyOne Hospital struck a bird up in Worth county while on a flight, causing damage and an emergency landing.
The incident took place on the evening of November 11, 2025, when MercyOne Air Med 3 experienced a bird strike over Worth County, the hospital said. No patient was on board.
“The crew quickly made a successful emergency landing, and both the pilot and crew are unharmed,” MercyOne reported. “The helicopter sustained a shattered windscreen. No further information will be made available tonight.”
Hundreds of Northern Iowa residents expressed relief via social media that the incident resulted in nothing more than moderate damage to the aircraft.
NIT readers will recall the tragedy of a helicopter crash that occurred near Ventura, back on the night of January 3, 2013. Mercy Air Med went down en route to Emmetsburg at about 9:00 PM that Wednesday night. The three people on board – a nurse, Shelly (Shell) Lair-Langenbau; a paramedic, Russell (Russ) Piehl, and a pilot with Med-Trans, the helicopter service, did not survive the incident. There was not a patient on board.