Two questions:
- How much do 1500 golf balls weigh?
- Is it legal to throw them out of a flying aircraft?
FAA probes helicopter crash at golf course
Saturday, August 23, 2008 11:47 PM EDT
BARNESVILLE (AP) - Federal Aviation Administration
investigators arrived Saturday at an eastern Pennsylvania
golf course where a helicopter crashed during a charity fundraiser.
The chopper crashed near the 8th hole of the
Mountain Valley Golf Course in Schuylkill County
just before 7 p.m. Friday. It was supposed to be
dropping golf balls for the fundraiser for Access Services,
a group that helps people with disabilities.
Ettore DiCasimirro helped pull pilot
Al Roman from the wreckage.
The other guy didnt want us to move him, DiCasimirro said.
I was afraid (the helicopter) was going to blow up
but I didnt know how to shut it off.
Roman and the co-pilot, who was identified
Saturday at Joseph Matteo, were flown to nearby
hospitals. Matteo was listed in critical condition
Saturday at Geisinger Medical Center in Danville.
Roman was listed in fair condition at
Reading Hospital and Medical Center.
The helicopter was supposed to fly over the
course and drop 1,500 numbered golf balls.
The person whose ball was closest to the
pin would have won 50 percent of ticket sales.
The first time it flew over, it didnt sound right,
it was making a rapping sound, witness Bob Ryan said
. He came down and then went up about 100 feet,
and that is when I saw him go down.
The golf course is about 80 miles northwest of
Philadelphia and less than 15 miles from
Pottsville, the site of a May 30 crash of a medical helicopter.
That crash caused minor injuries to the pilot, flight nurse
and flight medic and prompted the Lehigh Valley Hospital and
Health Network to stop airlifting patients for a while.
