Post-Tribune
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A Lake County (Ind.) Sheriff’s Department helicopter carrying two officers crashed in a farm field Tuesday during a training flight, but no life-threatening injuries were reported.
The aircraft landed upright and on its skids, but hit so hard that the main rotor cut into the tail propellers, according sheriff’s department spokesman Mike Higgins.
Sgt. George Nestorovich, a 13-year member of the department, was released from Munster Community Hospital after being treated for a cut on his head, Higgins said.
The Schweitzer-Hughes 300 three-seat training helicopter crashed about 5:45 p.m. Tuesday in a field near 73rd Avenue and Burr Street south and east of Griffith, Ind.
Residential subdivisions are in the area but no houses were near the crash site.
Lt. Rick Bruner, a 24-year veteran of the department, was the senior pilot during the flight. He was not injured.
PERFORMING SAFETY CHECKS
Nestorovich, a licensed pilot who was recently assigned to the department’s aviation unit, was going through a series of routine flight checks when the crash occurred, Higgins said.
In a flight check known as an “auto rotation,” Bruner was showing Nestorovich how to handle an engine failure, Higgins said.
But the engines failed to restart and the helicopter dropped and landed on its skids.
Tony Molinaro, a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman, said FAA investigators were en route to the site.
The department’s other helicopter, a Huey, would be grounded for all but emergency flights until the investigation was complete, Higgins said.
June 7, 2006