The name of UT Medical Center’s emergency rescue helicopter program is Lifestar, and its helicopters carry the LIFESTAR logo. At the urging of Dr. Robert L. Lash, a staunch proponent of emergency rescue services, the decision was made in the spring of 1984 to acquire a helicopter for emergency rescue and transport service. The helicopter was unveiled and christened on Saturday morning, September 1, 1984. At 5:00 p.m. the helicopter took off from UT Medical Center, made a circle and ceremonial dip over the president’s residence, where the Chancellor’s Associates were being entertained prior to the football season’s opening game, and then proceeded to its landing pad on campus at the intramural fields. After hovering briefly over the site, the helicopter lost power, crashed into several parked cars, and burst into flames, two hours before kickoff.
The four people on board (including Dr. Lash) were not harmed, except for a nurse who sustained burns to the legs while exiting the helicopter. The crash was eventually found to be caused by a faulty mechanical adjustment made before the helicopter arrived in Knoxville. By the end of September, a replacement helicopter was in the air. In 1993 UT LIFESTAR began operating two aircrafts simultaneously, in 2004 a third aircraft was added to the fleet, and a fourth was subsequently added to allow service to be deployed from four regional bases.