Two Injured in Chopper Crash in Ohio

April 25, 2014
The helicopter crashed and burned in a field.

April 25--RICHWOOD, Ohio -- At first, John Van Gundy didn't pay much attention to the helicopter flying above his farm yesterday afternoon. Van Gundy said he sees helicopters all the time over this rural part of Ohio, along the Delaware-Union county line west of Delaware. "People like to watch the cows," he said with a shrug.

But this helicopter started sputtering, and the noise made him look up.

"It just didn't sound quite right," Van Gundy said.

As Van Gundy watched, the helicopter headed toward the cornfield behind the barn where he keeps his cows and sheep.

Then it angled sharply and dived toward the ground.

Van Gundy, a former semipro football player, shouted for help and made a beeline for the field. When he got there, he found two men on the ground and the helicopter on fire.

The State Highway Patrol identified the men as 81-year-old Henry Brecher of Columbus and 50-year-old Todd Cramer of Dublin.

Both were conscious. They were stunned by the crash, Van Gundy said, but they talked to him and didn't seem to be burned.

One of the men looked frantically for his glasses. The other said his legs hurt.

Van Gundy helped the men move away from the wreckage. The wind picked up, and the fire started spreading, burning through dried cornstalk remnants and sending black smoke into the air. It took firefighters about 20 minutes to put out the fire in the field; by the time they arrived, the helicopter was almost gone.

Another helicopter came and took Brecher and Cramer to Ohio State University's Wexner Medical Center. They still were being evaluated last night to determine whether they would be kept in the hospital. Their injuries weren't life-threatening, officials said.

Federal Aviation Administration records show that Brecher registered a helicopter in 2006. His helicopter is a RotorWay Exec 162F, which comes as a kit for aviators to build themselves. Cramer also has an airplane, those records show.

Investigators said yesterday they didn't know what caused the helicopter to crash.

Van Gundy said he didn't know, either. He said he tried to keep the men calm while they waited for medics, and he didn't ask many questions.

"They were banged up, but they seemed like they would be all right," he said. "I told them if they were out (of the hospital) by Sunday, they should probably go to church."

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Copyright 2014 - The Columbus Dispatch, Ohio

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