West Virginia helicopter crash: Investigators release first report

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A helicopter crash final month that killed six folks in West Virginia occurred when the plane hit a rock face quarter-hour after takeoff from an area airport, federal investigators mentioned in a preliminary report Tuesday.

The Vietnam-era Bell UH-1B “Huey” helicopter struck the rock face in an space about 4 miles (6.4 kilometers) from Logan County Airport in Amherstdale, Nationwide Transportation Security Board investigators mentioned within the report. The cockpit and cabin then crashed right into a roadway and a guardrail and have been consumed by fireplace.

Investigators haven’t but launched any details about the reason for the accident. A ultimate report might take a 12 months or two to finish, they mentioned.

The flight on June 22 was the final scheduled for the day throughout a multiday reunion for helicopter fans the place guests might signal as much as experience or fly the historic Huey helicopter, described by organizers as one of many final of its variety nonetheless flying.

The helicopter was flown by the 114th Assault Helicopter Firm, “The Knights of the Sky,” in Vinh Lengthy, Vietnam, all through a lot of the Nineteen Sixties, based on the web site for MARPAT Aviation, a Logan County flight college that operated the helicopter. After the Huey returned to the U.S. in 1971, the web site says, it was featured in films comparable to “Die Onerous, “The Rock” and “Beneath Siege: Darkish Territory.”

In the course of the reunion, individuals who made a donation might fly the helicopter with a “security pilot” seated within the left entrance seat, based on the report. Folks might take a experience on the helicopter for a steered donation.

A non-public pilot, two “pilot rated” passengers and three others have been killed within the crash.

Investigators mentioned wreckage from the crash was discovered 26 ft (8 meters) throughout a roadway, in addition to in a ditch on the base of a rock face. Extra wreckage together with items of Plexiglas, a bit of a tail rotor blade have been discovered about 40 ft (12 meters) above the wreckage on a ledge of the steep rock face.

There have been no recognized witnesses to the accident, based on the report.