MONTICELLO, Ga. — Three people, including an Atlanta landscape architect, were killed when a helicopter crashed last Wednesday in the dense woods of a national wildlife preserve in Middle Georgia, according to reports.
Architect Carson McElheney, 40, died in the crash, according to WXIA. The other two people aboard the helicopter were identified as Alister Pereira, 42, and Charles Ogilvie, 46, both pilots from Atlanta, according to WXIA.
McElheney, a father of two, started his own firm in 2011, according to the Atlanta TV station.
The Robinson R66 helicopter scattered debris over a path 125 feet long, indicating a “high-energy impact,” Aaron McCarter, an air safety investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board, told a news conference last week.
The crash happened last Wednesday night at the Piedmont National Wildlife Refuge.
The helicopter took off from Thomasville, about 180 miles south of the crash site, at 6:40 p.m. Wednesday, McCarter said, and was reported missing about two hours later. He said the weather during the flight was rainy with low clouds and reduced visibility.
Search teams combed the woods in rural Jasper County looking for the crash site and discovered the wreckage Thursday afternoon.
April Seabolt, who lives in the area, said it was “pouring rain” Wednesday evening. She told The Telegraph of Macon that she and her husband heard a low-flying aircraft over their house and felt like something was wrong.
“It was flying really low,” Seabolt told the newspaper.
It wasn't immediately known what caused the crash. McCarter said the NTSB's investigation will look at the weather conditions, as well as the credentials and experience of the pilots and evidence collected about the helicopter itself and its maintenance history.
He said the NTSB should release preliminary findings on the crash within about two weeks.
