FORT MCDOWELL INDIAN RESERVATION, Ariz. (AP) - The Latest on a helicopter crash (all times local):
5:30 p.m.
Authorities say a second body has been found at the site of a helicopter crash on the Fort McDowell Indian Reservation near Phoenix.
Tribal fire department officials say the second person was a passenger in the helicopter that went down about 7 a.m. Tuesday in a farm field and the identity of the victim hasn’t confirmed.
Earlier, officials at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University announced that the pilot killed in the crash was a professor at the Prescott school.
They say Rucie Moore was chair of the school’s helicopter program, a full-time faculty member at the Prescott campus for about a year and a former U.S. Army helicopter test pilot.
A Federal Aviation Administration spokesman says the Bell 206B helicopter was on a flight from Falcon Field in Mesa and the cause of the crash will be investigated.
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3:20 p.m.
A pilot killed in a helicopter crash on the Fort McDowell Indian Reservation on the outskirts of Phoenix has been identified as a professor at a Prescott university.
Officials at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University say Rucie Moore was chair of the school’s helicopter program.
They say Moore was a full-time faculty member at the Prescott campus for about a year and a former U.S. Army helicopter test pilot.
Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor says only the pilot was believed aboard the helicopter that crashed Tuesday morning.
He says the Bell 206B was on a flight from Falcon Field in Mesa.
News video showed wreckage next to an apparent burned area in a farm field, along with possible small pieces of wreckage scattered on a dirt road some distance away.
Gregor said the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the crash.
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10:30 a.m.
A fire official says a dead body was found in wreckage of a helicopter that crashed Tuesday morning in a field on the Fort McDowell Indian Reservation on the outskirts of metro Phoenix.
Fort McDowell officials did not immediately respond to calls for information but at least two local media outlets reported that Chief Mark Openshaw of the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation Fire Department said one body was found at the crash site.
Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said only the pilot was believed aboard the helicopter, which he initially said was a Eurocopter EC135 but later said it was a Bell 206B on a flight from Falcon Field in Mesa.
News video showed wreckage next to an apparent burned area in a farm field, along with possible small pieces of wreckage scattered on a dirt road some distance away.
Gregor said the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the crash.
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8:20 a.m.
Federal Aviation Administration spokesman says preliminary information indicates only the pilot was aboard a helicopter that crashed Tuesday morning in a field on the Fort McDowell Indian Reservation on the outskirts of metro Phoenix.
There was no immediate word of the condition of anybody board the helicopter, which FAA spokesman Ian Gregor said was a Eurocopter EC135.
Fort McDowell officials did not immediately respond to a request for information.
News video showed wreckage with few recognizable parts next to an apparent burned area in a farm field, along with possible small pieces of wreckage scattered on a dirt road some distance away.
Gregor said the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the crash.
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8 a.m.
Authorities say a helicopter has crashed on the outskirts of Phoenix and news video showed wreckage and an apparent burned area in a farm field. There was no immediate word of possible injury.
Rural-Metro Fire Department Shawn Gilleland said the crash occurred Tuesday morning on the Fort McDowell Indian Reservation near Fountain Hills.
Gilleland said Rural-Metro initially responded under a mutual aid agreement with its Fort McDowell counterpart but that he had no additional information.
Fort McDowell officials did not immediately respond to a request for information.
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