Forest Service 206 down in East Texas,
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The link above doesn't seem to be current now, so I'm copying one news site here for info.
source
Three Dead in Helicopter Crash in Texas
Friday March 11, 2005 5:01 AM
SHELBYVILLE, Texas (AP) - A helicopter under contract to the U.S. Forest Service crashed Thursday during prescribed burning operations in a national forest in east Texas, killing three people, officials said.
Pilot Jose Victor Gonzales and passengers John Greeno and Charles Edgar were the only occupants of the craft and died at the scene, said Heather Crustner, a dispatcher with the Texas Department of Public Safety.
The helicopter, a Bell 206B-3, went down about 60 miles northeast of Lufkin, said Gay Ippolito, a public affairs officer with the Forest Service.
The helicopter had flown all morning, then refueled and returned to fly in the afternoon over the rural, pine-studded region, said Shelby County Sheriff Newton Johnson.
"The helicopter came over the radio, they were saying, 'Mayday, Mayday, we're going down,' and they crashed in the national forest,'' Johnson said.
Lee Andrew, owner of Brainerd Helicopter Service Inc., in Brainerd, Minn., said Gonzales had worked for him about three weeks. He said the two passengers were not his employees. "It's just terrible,'' Andrew said in Friday's Brainerd Dispatch.
He said his company has done contract work for seven or eight years, and this is its first fatality.
The National Transportation Safety Board was investigating, Ippolito said. As a precaution, the Forest Service grounded aviation operations in Texas' national forests and grasslands.
The Sabine National Forest drew attention in early 2003 as an area where space shuttle Columbia recovery efforts were concentrated.
Friday March 11, 2005 5:01 AM
SHELBYVILLE, Texas (AP) - A helicopter under contract to the U.S. Forest Service crashed Thursday during prescribed burning operations in a national forest in east Texas, killing three people, officials said.
Pilot Jose Victor Gonzales and passengers John Greeno and Charles Edgar were the only occupants of the craft and died at the scene, said Heather Crustner, a dispatcher with the Texas Department of Public Safety.
The helicopter, a Bell 206B-3, went down about 60 miles northeast of Lufkin, said Gay Ippolito, a public affairs officer with the Forest Service.
The helicopter had flown all morning, then refueled and returned to fly in the afternoon over the rural, pine-studded region, said Shelby County Sheriff Newton Johnson.
"The helicopter came over the radio, they were saying, 'Mayday, Mayday, we're going down,' and they crashed in the national forest,'' Johnson said.
Lee Andrew, owner of Brainerd Helicopter Service Inc., in Brainerd, Minn., said Gonzales had worked for him about three weeks. He said the two passengers were not his employees. "It's just terrible,'' Andrew said in Friday's Brainerd Dispatch.
He said his company has done contract work for seven or eight years, and this is its first fatality.
The National Transportation Safety Board was investigating, Ippolito said. As a precaution, the Forest Service grounded aviation operations in Texas' national forests and grasslands.
The Sabine National Forest drew attention in early 2003 as an area where space shuttle Columbia recovery efforts were concentrated.
