Time Out
18th Aug 2004, 17:16
Helicopter crashes in Spokane, pilot killed
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SPOKANE, Wash. -- A Bonneville Power Administration helicopter crashed Tuesday while stringing high-voltage lines, killing the pilot, the Spokane County sheriff's office said.
John J. Cooley, 57, of Cheney, was piloting the 1994 Bell Ranger when the aircraft suddenly tipped on its side and fell to the ground, sheriff's spokesman Cpl. Dave Reagan said.
Paramedics and other BPA workers pulled Cooley from the damaged helicopter, but he was pronounced dead at the scene, Reagan said. Cooley was the only person aboard.
No one was injured on the ground. The copter's blades struck a nearby power pole and sheared it in half, but did not damage numerous other power lines at the site, Reagan said.
Federal Aviation Administration investigators were on the scene, Reagan said.
The helicopter went down about 9:40 a.m. near a BPA substation and the closed Kaiser Mead Works smelter northeast of Spokane, he said.
BPA spokesman Ed Mosey said the aircraft was installing lines for a $175 million transmission upgrade. The lines were not energized, he said.
The helicopter was being used to lift electrical transmission line from a spool to the tops of support towers where workers would attach the lines to hanging insulators, Reagan said.
BPA is replacing transmission lines that carry 115 kilovolts of power with 500 kilovolt lines on an 84-mile stretch from north Spokane to Grand Coulee Dam. source (http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/aplocal_story.asp?category=6420&slug=WA%20Copter%20Crash)
edited to add another article (http://www.kxly.com/common/getStory.asp?id=38772)
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SPOKANE, Wash. -- A Bonneville Power Administration helicopter crashed Tuesday while stringing high-voltage lines, killing the pilot, the Spokane County sheriff's office said.
John J. Cooley, 57, of Cheney, was piloting the 1994 Bell Ranger when the aircraft suddenly tipped on its side and fell to the ground, sheriff's spokesman Cpl. Dave Reagan said.
Paramedics and other BPA workers pulled Cooley from the damaged helicopter, but he was pronounced dead at the scene, Reagan said. Cooley was the only person aboard.
No one was injured on the ground. The copter's blades struck a nearby power pole and sheared it in half, but did not damage numerous other power lines at the site, Reagan said.
Federal Aviation Administration investigators were on the scene, Reagan said.
The helicopter went down about 9:40 a.m. near a BPA substation and the closed Kaiser Mead Works smelter northeast of Spokane, he said.
BPA spokesman Ed Mosey said the aircraft was installing lines for a $175 million transmission upgrade. The lines were not energized, he said.
The helicopter was being used to lift electrical transmission line from a spool to the tops of support towers where workers would attach the lines to hanging insulators, Reagan said.
BPA is replacing transmission lines that carry 115 kilovolts of power with 500 kilovolt lines on an 84-mile stretch from north Spokane to Grand Coulee Dam. source (http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/aplocal_story.asp?category=6420&slug=WA%20Copter%20Crash)
edited to add another article (http://www.kxly.com/common/getStory.asp?id=38772)