Crashed helicopter to be retrieved Thursday

Crashed helicopter to be retrieved Thu.

Updated: Tuesday, 23 Jun 2009, 1:09 PM MDT
Published : Tuesday, 23 Jun 2009, 1:07 PM MDT

SANTA FE (KRQE) - Federal investigators on Thursday plan to remove the wreckage of a crashed state police helicopter from Santa Fe Baldy.

A private company plans to use a heavy-lift helicopter to move the police helicopter to a trailer to transport it to a Colorado storage facility, where the National Transportation Safety Board will use the wreckage to develop a final report.

The helicopter crashed June 9 during a search-and-rescue mission to pick up a lost hiker.

According to a preliminary report from the NTSB, the helicopter had landed to pick up the hiker, Negumi Yamamoto, and was taking off when it hit the mountain and landed hard. It rolled down a steep slope.

The pilot, Sgt. Andy Tingwall, and Yamamoto were killed. Officer Wesley Cox, who was acting as a spotter, was injured but survived.

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Crashed helicopter to be retrieved Thu.

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