{"id":79156,"date":"2022-06-23T13:44:05","date_gmt":"2022-06-23T13:44:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.bornomalanews.com\/?p=79156"},"modified":"2022-06-23T13:44:05","modified_gmt":"2022-06-23T13:44:05","slug":"6-people-killed-in-helicopter-crash-in-west-virginia-mountains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/en.bornomalanews.com\/?p=79156","title":{"rendered":"6 people killed in helicopter crash in West Virginia Mountains"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"News Desk:<\/strong> Six people were killed when a helicopter being flown during a reunion for enthusiasts of historical aircraft crashed on Wednesday evening in Logan County, W.Va., the authorities said.<\/p>\n

The helicopter came down on Route 17 near Blair Mountain, said Sonya Porter, the deputy director of the Logan County Office of Emergency Management. The mountainous area in the southern part of the state is known as Kelly Hollow.<\/p>\n

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Ms. Porter was not sure what might have caused the crash.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the time the crash occurred, I think the weather was clear,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The aircraft was a Bell UH-1B helicopter manufactured in 1962, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Ray Bryant, who was at the scene of the crash and is the chief of operations for the Logan Emergency Ambulance Service Authority, said its tail number was N98F.<\/p>\n

The N98F helicopter is owned by Marpat Aviation, which was holding an annual reunion this week for \u201cHuey\u201d helicopters, a nickname for the aircraft. Its website said people could make a reservation to fly the helicopter without being a pilot.<\/p>\n

Flying the helicopter for 30 minutes required a $250 donation to pay for fuel, according to the website, while others could ride along by making a small donation. The helicopter that crashed had been used during the Vietnam War and appears in movies including \u201cDie Hard,\u201d \u201cThe Rock\u201d and \u201cBaywatch.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mike Holbrook, the owner and operator of Marpat Aviation, did not return a call requesting comment. Two people who answered phone numbers connected with the company hung up on a reporter.<\/p>\n

The helicopter, which had taken off from Logan County Airport, crashed into the roadway and guardrail of a rural two-lane road, Mr. Bryant said. He said that the helicopter was still on fire when he arrived, and that in his 35 years with the county\u2019s emergency services, he had seen \u201cno crashes of this magnitude.\u201d<\/p>\n

One woman said she ran as quickly as possible to the scene after the crash, ducking under the guardrail. \u201cI went up to the helicopter, but the fire was just so hot, so intense,\u201d the woman, Bobbi Childs, told WSAZ-3, a television station in Huntington.<\/p>\n

The F.A.A. and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the crash. The victims\u2019 names have not been publicly released.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

News Desk: Six people were killed when a helicopter being flown during a reunion for enthusiasts of historical aircraft crashed on Wednesday evening in Logan County, W.Va., the authorities said. The helicopter came down on Route 17 near Blair Mountain, said Sonya Porter, the deputy director of the Logan County Office of Emergency Management. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":79157,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2,5],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\t\n