Helicopter Crash In Mojave Desert

[jskibo]

ADELANTO, Calif. (AP) ―
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<DD>Three people were killed when a vintage helicopter hit power lines and crashed in San Bernardino County Saturday. (File) AP
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Authorities say three people are dead after a vintage helicopter hit power lines, crashed and caught fire in San Bernardino County.

Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor says the Piasecki PV-18 took off from Adelanto Airport at 8:30 a.m. Saturday headed for Flabob Airport in Riverside.

All three people aboard were killed when the helicopter crashed about a mile south of Adelanto Airport. Adelanto is a city in the Mojave Desert about 70 miles northeast of Los Angeles.

Investigators from the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board were at the scene Saturday.

There was no word on the cause, and identities of the dead were not immediately released.

The helicopter is a vintage military aircraft built in 1951. FAA records show the owner is Joseph William Pike of Victorville.

 

[MojavePilot]

Pilot Joe Pike was demonstrating the vintage heli to a pilot from back east & a third, unknown. They were headed south for Flabob airport. Adelanto airport has tall power transmission lines immediately to the south. The heli clipped the power lines with it's front wheel, flipped inverted, & went down.
Joe Pike operated a helicopter museum at Adelanto. He had flown crane heli's & was quite an expert. His old friend, DC-3 captain Dave Pepper, had been waiting for the trio at Flabob airport & related this story to me after he arrived at the scene of the crash. Rest in Peace, Joe Pike & fellow Airmen.

 

[RICHARD5]

That hits close to home. I was just at Adelanto and today at FlaBob. While I don't think I had met Pike, I wonder if we have mutual friends.

Fair winds, aviator.

 

[I_Money]

And Air Medical helicopter hit power lines in AI I believe recently - all survived that one though.