Safety panel says copter, piece of truck tangled in Arkansas crash

A skid on an agricultural helicopter taking off became entangled with a piece of an elevated platform on a service truck before the helicopter crashed May 13 in Lawrence County, the National Transportation Safety Board said Thursday.

Debris from the crash struck and fatally injured a ground attendant who had helped load the Bell 47G helicopter with fuel and an aerial application product, according to the agency's preliminary report on the crash. An official, full report on the probable cause of a crash typically takes about a year.

The crash occurred about 7:15 a.m. The pilot, Jason Hammock, 44, of Walnut Ridge, told agency officials that he had landed the two-bladed, single-engine light helicopter on the elevated platform to be loaded with fuel and chemicals. The aircraft was being used to apply chemicals to a rice field owned by Penn Farms just off Lawrence County Road 504, south of Portia.

As the helicopter lifted off, its "skid became entangled with the piece of the elevated platform, and the pilot attempted to free the helicopter," the report said. "The helicopter tipped forward, and the pilot lost control" of it.

"The main rotors contacted the service truck and the helicopter impacted terrain."

Tom Weisenbach, 51, of Walnut Ridge who had helped load the helicopter, died from injuries suffered when debris from the helicopter struck him. A husband, father and grandfather, Weisenbach had been employed by Hammock Flying Services for 11 years.

Hammock, who has flown agriculture helicopters for 22 years, according to a Hammock Flying Services employee, was uninjured in the crash.

Metro on 05/27/2016

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