Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
YELLOW POLICE tape blocks access to a woods road that leads to the site of a helicopter crash Tuesday near Birch Hill on the Bad River Indian Reservation. The National Transportation Safety Board was conducting an investigation of the fatal crash. Ashland Daily Press reporter Rick Olivo files a report at the scene.
By RALPH ANSAMI
ODANAH, Wis. - The National Transportation Safety Board said the pilot of a helicopter was killed in a crash reported early Tuesday in the Birch Hill area of the Bad River Indian Reservation.
The pilot was identified as Dean Bass, 64, of Ontario, Canada.
Numerous agencies had been looking for the Enbridge Energy helicopter since it failed to arrive at the Duluth International Airport Monday evening for a brief stop before heading to its destination in Madison. Searches of local airports failed to turn up the missing aircraft.
The helicopter had been traveling westward from the Upper Peninsula, according to Ashland County Sheriff Mick Brennan.
"At approximately 1:37 a.m., the Civil Air Patrol reported a Lake Superior Helicopters' craft, searching from the air, had located the potential crash site in a remote portion of the reservation," Brennan said.
Ground teams, including an Enbridge search team, reached the crash site about 6 a.m. Tuesday.
Investigators from the NTSB and Ashland County Sheriff's Department were still on the scene around noon Tuesday, along with Enbridge employees.
The location was off Birch Hill Road, near Pine Flats Road and what is locally called the Four Corners.
The crash was several miles into the woods off the gravel Birch Hill Road and access was limited to all-terrain vehicles on a muddy tote road. The woods road leading to the accident scene was blocked off by yellow police tape. A sign there said it is reservation property.
Bad River first responders and the Bad River Fire Department were initially paged to the crash site.
The NTSB said the pilot was the only person on board. NTSB spokesman Keith Holloway acknowledged the crashed Airbus AS350 was on pipeline patrol.
The Wisconsin Wing of the Civil Air Patrol, U.S. Coast Guard, Wisconsin Emergency Management and Air Force Rescue Coordination Center also assisted in the search.
The cause of the crash was not immediately determined, but the helicopter was reported to have received extensive damage.
-The Associated Press contributed to this story.
