Minor Incident Involving Helicopter at the Cedar City Airport

Published: September 14, 2016 | Read Time: 1 minutes

At approximately 1:34 PM a helicopter, piloted by Colin Smith, an experienced flight instructor in Southern Utah University’s Aviation program, tipped over on its right side. The R44 was maneuvering above the helipad at the Cedar City airport. Captain Smith sustained a minor scrape as a result of the incident.

A student, Tray Wegenhoft, was in the aircraft at the time and was uninjured. No structures were involved in the routine training.

According to Mike Mower, Executive Director of the Aviation program, “Training in all conditions leads to the safest pilots. We will continue to work with authorities to ascertain the cause of the incident.”

The appropriate authorities were notified including Cedar City Police, Cedar City Fire Department, and Campus Police.

The National Safety Transportation Board will investigate the incident and will have a preliminary report within a month. The R44 was cleared by the NTSB at approximately 3:00 PM and returned to the hangar.

Contact:

Mike Mower
435-865-8772
mikemower@suu.edu

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Contact Information:

435-586-5400
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