NOBLESVILLE, Ind. --
Six people suffered minor injuries when a helicopter crashed on a Noblesville golf course Thursday, police said.
The crash happened just after 6 p.m. at the Sagamore Golf Course at 11315 Hanbury Manor Blvd. behind a corn field.
The pilot and five passengers were traveling from Fort Wayne to Indianapolis when bad weather hit.
Investigators identified the pilot as Chuck Surack, owner of Sweetwater Sound, a music business in Fort Wayne.
"The pilot indicated that the weather was so bad that they were trying to find a place to land, and his initial plan was to make it over to the Promise Road Airport," Noblesville Fire Chief Rick Russell said.
They tried to make it to the Noblesville airport but crashed in a field at the golf course, just behind a row of homes.
Neighbors in the housing addition said they watched the helicopter go down, RTV6's Eboné Monet reported.
“I looked out of the window and you could actually see it coming down at a very steep angle. Then we heard this big thud, and then obviously it had crashed," resident Brad Addison said.
All six people escaped the helicopter before it caught fire. It was still burning an hour after the crash.
“I was hoping that I wasn't going to see anything that I didn't want to see, but we knew if there was someone out there that needed help we had to get there as soon as possible," resident Barbara Ballard said. "My husband and brother-in-law had to help one man out, and really, I think it was more because they were all in shock, obviously."
Officials with the National Transportation Safety Board, the Federal Aviation Administration and the Noblesville Police Department all said they planned to interview the passengers to determine the events that led up to the crash.
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