Officials release few details on helicopter crash
Few new details were being released Thursday regarding a helicopter crash in Wharton Township that killed the 33-year-old pilot from Nevada. According to Fayette County Deputy Coroner Jessie Langer, Jonathan Todd Kidd of Las Vegas was killed when the chopper crashed in a field along Kirby Road, about a half-mile from Skyline Drive. Investigators said it is still not known what exactly caused the aircraft to crash.
Jim Peters, spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration, said that the National Transportation Safety Board will lead the crash investigation because the accident involved a death.
NTSB officials confirmed that the crash is under investigation and that officers were documenting the wreckage Thursday afternoon, but released few additional details.
NTSB spokesman Keith Holloway said that investigators also will check communications with air traffic control at the time of the crash, weather conditions and the maintenance of the aircraft in the coming weeks.
“It will take about 12 to 18 months to officially determine the cause of the crash but we will release new data and information as we receive it,” Holloway said. “It is simply too soon to speculate.”
Langer said that a woman driving on Kirby Road sometime after 11:30 p.m. first spotted the downed chopper laying in a field.
Langer said the woman ran to the aircraft and found the pilot unresponsive and immediately called 911.
Deputy Coroner Paul Kondrla pronounced Kidd dead at the scene at 12:41 p.m.
Peters said the helicopter, owned by Utility Helicopter Inc. of El Cajon, Calif., was a Hughes 369D and was officially reported down to the FAA at 11:54 a.m.
Kidd was part of a survey crew working to pinpoint seismic activity in the area to map out sites for potential gas wells, officials said.
Officials said that it appeared that Kidd might have been delivering a basket of supplies to a ground crew working in the area when the crash occurred.
The survey crew working on the ground was employed by Geokinetics Inc., which is based in Houston, Texas.
The foreman of the crew, Paul Maurinac of Oregon, was at the scene when the crash occurred and collapsed while emergency crews cordoned off the area around the downed chopper.
According to its Web site, Geokinetics is involved a broad range of specialized geography services to the petroleum and mining industries.
Officials said Geokinetics was contracted to conduct the work in Fayette County through Columbia Gas.
Deputy Coroner Marisa Springer said results from an autopsy performed Thursday by forensic pathologist Dr. Cyril Wecht were not available Thursday afternoon.
She noted that toxicology tests also will be performed.
The state police Records and Identification Unit processed the crash site and a state police helicopter took aerial photos of the crash scene for examination.