On
November 30, a man piloting a Robinson
R22 helicopter was killed after the chopper went down some 300 yards off
the shore of Apollo Beach, Florida. Friends and family say the man killed in
the crash, 60-year-old Larry Ward, was an experienced pilot.
He took off that Friday from Tampa Bay Aviation and witnesses say the R22
crashed in the waters off Tampa Bay mid-afternoon.
Witnesses point to mechanical problems as a potential cause of the crash.
"There was a loud pop, and when it popped I saw the blade of the
helicopter spiraling down to the ground," witness Jeff Kritz said in a statement.
Authorities were able to successfully recover most of the wreckage from the
crash. Officials, however, have failed to find the two main rotor blades of the
chopper, which could lend investigators key information as to what specifically
caused the chopper to go down.
In a press release issued this week, Robinson Helicopters, the manufacturers of
the downed R22 helicopter, said
they are offering a reward of $1000 per rotor blade to anyone that recovers
them. Investigators looking into the crash believe the rotor blades are within
an area that stretches a mile along the coast and about a half mile off
shore.
The Robinson press release states
that the location of both blades must be recorded with GPS coordinates in order
to claim any reward. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is to be
notified if any blades are found and recovered.
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