DeWITT, Ark. - A National Transportation Safety Board preliminary report says several bird carcasses were found in the wreckage of a medical helicopter that crashed last month in eastern Arkansas, killing all three people aboard.
The cause of the Nov. 19 crash remains under investigation, but local officials have suggested that a large number of geese in the area may be to blame.
The NTSB report says residents near the accident site reported hearing a boom and seeing a fire plume. The helicopter was traveling from Pine Bluff to pick up a patient in Helena-West Helena.
Killed in the crash were 46-year-old pilot Michael Bollen, of Hot Springs; 61-year-old flight nurse James Lawson Spruiell, of Sulligent, Alabama; and 26-year-old flight paramedic John "Trey" Auld III, of Shreveport, Louisiana.