Rain confirmed at time of desert helicopter crash that killed 6
Federal investigators spent their first full day on Sunday in the desert 75 miles northeast of Barstow picking up the pieces of a helicopter that took off from Palm Springs and crashed killing six people, including an executive of a Nigerian bank, his wife and son, and the former chair of the Nigerian Exchange Group.
All the major components of the Airbus Eurocopter EC130 helicopter were recovered Sunday at the crash site, including the three main rotor blades, the main transmission, the tail rotor. landing gear skids and various avionics components, National Transportation Safety Board Member Michael Graham told reporters.
NTSB flight-tracking data shoed the helicopter traveling along Interstate 15 about 1,000 to 1,500 feet above ground and near the end of the flight the helicopter took a slight right turn, turning south of the interstate, and then had a gradual descent and increasing ground speed before flight data ended about a quarter-mile from the wreckage, Graham said. “The wreckage site shows the helicopter impacted the terrain in a nose-low, right-bank angle.”
The wreckage will be moved Tuesday to a secure location for further examination, he said.
NTSB meteorologists now concur with witnesses who noted there was rain and wintery mist in the area at the time of the crash, said Graham.
The crash was reported at 10:08 p.m. Friday about a quarter-mile east of Interstate 15 near Halloran Springs Road, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff ’s Department and National Transportation Safety Board Member Michael Graham.
The Airbus Eurocopter EC130 helicopter had taken off from Palm Springs at 8:45 p.m. en route to Boulder City Nevada, according to Graham. The Frenchmade helicopter was chartered from Orbit
Air, LLC in Burbank, he said.
“This is the beginning of a long process,” Graham said of the federal investigation. Investigators will start at the crash scene “gathering perishable evidence,” and the probe will likely take 1224 months to complete.
The passengers on board the helicopter were identified as 57-year-old Dr. Herbert Onyewumbu Wigwe, Group CEO of Nigeria-based Access Bank, along with his wife and son, as well as Abimbola Ogunbanjoa, a former chair of Nigerian Exchange Group, according to CBS News. The pilot and copilot were not yet identified.