Article by Ryan Haidet, 3News
One body has been recovered from a helicopter that crashed into the Mogadore Reservoir after it hit high-tension wires in Suffield Township early Friday morning.
The pilot has been identified as 52-year-old Anthony Jones of North Royalton, according to Lt. Erik Golias of the Ravenna Post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol.
Scott Simmons, commander of the Portage County Water Rescue Team, said their team initiated a boat-based operation after a drone spotted an area where oil was coming to the top of the water.
“We took a boat out, we anchored it to make a dive platform to safely operate off of that,” Simmons said. “Once we had that dive platform in place, we sent our first diver under the water at 9:29 a.m. He found the helicopter at 9:33 a.m. and we recovered the pilot of the helicopter at 9:35 a.m.”
In an earlier update, Suffield Township Fire Chief Bob Rasnick said crews were working “to make absolute sure there’s not anybody else in the area,” but the FAA issued a statement a short time later that said the pilot was the only person on board the helicopter, described as a Schweizer 269C, a light utility helicopter typically known for its ruggedness, safety, and suitability for flight training.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash.
Helicopter flew into high-tension wires, then went into the reservoir
Rasnick said it was around 7:11 a.m. when they were first notified of the crash.
“We did have witnesses in a boat that saw the event occur,” he explained. “A helicopter flew into the Ohio Edison high-tension wires and went into the water.”
He said the crash broke one wire across the top that doesn’t carry a current, but it did come down on the ground.
“Ohio Edison officials were here and they secured those lines and grounded them to make sure they would be no hazard to anybody,” according to Chief Rasnick.
FirstEnergy also issued the following statement:
We’ve received reports of a third-party helicopter crash in Portage County that involved our power lines. Our main concern is for those who may have been involved in the incident, and our thoughts are with them. First responders have our full cooperation as they investigate the incident.
Rasnick added there was some leakage from the helicopter, but crews isolated it “to protect the water in this area so there’s no danger of it running off.”
The Portage County Sheriff’s Office also noted in a Facebook post around 8:40 a.m. that Sunnybrook Road was closed between Martin and Saxe roads as crews worked at the scene.
