Copter crash kills 2

Jeffrey Libby and Jen Lawson

Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2002 | 9:46 a.m.

Two Arizonans were killed Monday morning when their two-seat helicopter hit power lines along U.S. 93 and crashed onto the roadside about 40 miles southeast of Hoover Dam in Arizona.

A spokesman for the Mohave County, Ariz., Sheriff's Office identified the pilot and passenger of the Robinson R-22 only as a male and female from Arizona. He did not release their names or ages.

The helicopter's flight path was not known, spokesman Jarrod Lyman said. But shortly before 11:40 a.m. Mountain time, the southbound helicopter flew into power lines that cross the two-lane highway near milepost 38, north of Dolan Springs, Lyman said. A passing motorist called 911.

No fire was reported in the crash, which destroyed the craft, Lyman said.

The helicopter took off earlier in the morning from an airport in the Phoenix-Scottsdale area, according to the Arizona Department of Public Safety.

The Las Vegas branch of the Federal Aviation Administration is conducting a crash investigation, Lyman said.

This was the third helicopter crash in the Kingman area in two months, and the second resulting in fatalities. A Utah man was killed Nov. 15 when his Bell Jet Ranger hit power lines and crashed in a remote area about 20 miles north of Kingman.

A week before that, a helicopter film crew with the television program "Ripley's Believe It or Not" crashed alongside Route 66, north of Kingman after reportedly striking power lines. No one was seriously hurt.

In August 2001 five New York tourists and a pilot were killed when a Papillion sightseeing helicopter from Las Vegas crashed on a hillside near the Grand Canyon. One woman survived with extensive burns.