Federal safety investigators are starting their probe of a Florida helicopter crash that killed a heart surgeon, another employee of the Mayo Clinic and the aircraft’s pilot, according to The Florida Times-Union.
Dr. Luis Bonilla, 49, and procurement technician David Hines, 57, who both worked for the Mayo Clinic, were on their way to the University of Florida hospital in Gainesville to pick up a heart for a transplant when their copter had its accident Monday, The Times-Union reported. The chopper’s pilot, E. Hoke Smith, 68, also died in the crash.
The accident involved a Bell 206B-3 helicopter. The crash site, in a thick pine forest southwest of Green Cove Springs, was 450-by-100 feet, according to The Times-Union.
The National Safety Transportation Board (NSTB) is moving the wreckage to Georgia, where it will be studied for the investigation. The helicopter was owned by SK Jets in St. Augustine, Fla., which employed Smith.
According to The Times-Union, a NSTB report blamed the actions of pilots as the probable cause in 38 of the 44 crashes involving Bell 206B-3 crashes since January 2007.
Attorney Gordon Johnson
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