3 Die As Helicopter Being Checked Out Crashes In Oregon

AURORA, Ore. - A twin-rotor helicopter being checked out following maintenance went wildly out of control and crashed in the middle of a muddy field yesterday, killing three people.

The Boeing 107, a type of helicopter frequently used in logging operations, went down about two miles east of the Aurora airport, 30 miles south of Portland, said Dick Humphreys of Columbia Helicopters, owner of the aircraft.

The helicopter was on a post-maintenance check when it crashed upon return to the airport, said Julie Litchfield, Clackamas County Sheriff's Department spokeswoman.

The National Transportation Safety Board was investigating the crash. No preliminary cause was being released. Federal Aviation Administration traffic controllers were not in contact with the pilot and had no information about the flight.

Coroner officials were trying to remove the bodies from the wreckage yesterday evening.

They were identified by sheriff's deputies as pilot James Davey, 49, of Boring, Ore.; Andre Dube, 35, of Canby, Ore., and Kevin Neal, 33, of Oregon City, Ore. Davey and Dube were pilots, and Neal was a maintenance technician.

Lloyd Walkoski, pesticide-spraying supervisor at the J. Frank Schmidt Nursery, said the helicopter was at a low altitude when he first heard it.

"All of a sudden, this one got real loud," he said. "It didn't sound right, so I went outside to take a look."

He said that at about 100 feet of elevation the helicopter began to fly upside down and twirling.

"I thought it was going to land on top of me," Walkoski said. He ran and heard a loud noise as it crashed.

Sally Bush of Bush's Nursery, about a half mile from the crash site, said she heard it fall from the sky.

"I was on the phone. I said, `That helicopter's too low.' And then it was silent. It was awful, just horrible," she said.

Humphreys said Columbia owns about 20 helicopters, contracting them out for aerial logging, construction and oil exploration.

About 850 people work at the company, based at the Aurora airport.

Most of the 20 employees of the J. Frank Schmidt Nursery were eating lunch when the helicopter crashed, said Joe Kelly, farm manager.

Some of the workers ran to the site with fire extinguishers as smoke and a few flames came from near the engines.