The scene near Riverdale is the third time in a week emergency crews in the valley have responded to an aircraft down.In this case, the pilot was crop dusting fields just off Highway 41.
“The helicopter was flying back and forth between the two fields spraying an herbicide when the aircraft began to stutter and impacted the ground,” said Capt. Ryan Michaels with the Fresno County Fire Department.
The pilot was trapped in the wreckage for an hour.
He was life-flighted to the hospital with moderate injuries.
The FAA is investigating the cause of the crash.
As well as another agriculture related crash in northern Kern County last week - where a helicopter doing frost control on orchards crashed, killing the woman pilot from Camarillo.
Federal authorities are also trying to determine what caused a small plane to go down near the Tulare-Kern county border on Sunday.
The pilot, 72-year-old Floyd Johnston, and his passenger, 28-year-old Jacob Curiel, were killed.
“I think the thing I grieve for most is Jacob’s family. He was 28 years old. It's just tragic. My father had a full and exciting life. And Jacob was just beginning his,” said Karen Johnston, Floyd’s daughter.
Johnston says her father was the anchor of the family.
He was the owner of a construction company in Clovis.
Jacob worked for him.
The two men often rode motorcycles together.
They had spent the weekend riding in southern California.
Floyd had been a pilot for 15 years.
“He died the way he lived, flying and enjoying himself,” Karen Johnston said.
