Student and Instructor pilot perish, ShowCopters crew were not involved

Tyson Rininger of TVR Photography, who provides ANN and our readers with those fantastic photos of aviation subjects, has notified us that one of the ShowCopter Robinson R44 aircraft, their #1 camera ship, crashed enroute from Rhode Island to Connecticut. The aircraft was scheduled to do video work for Sean D. Tucker, but it never made it.

The names of the instructor and student have not been released at press time, but the Associated Press is reporting that the instructor was a Norwegian national and the student was a resident of California. The owner of the aircraft and pilot of the camera ship, Jim Cheatham, arrived at the scene about two hours after the crash site was discovered.

The R44 crashed about 75 yards from a paved road near Old Furnace State Park. The site is located just a few miles from the Rhode Island state line. Thunderstorms and heavy fog were reported in the area, according to authorities, and according to AP, Cheatham stated that poor visibility would have required the pilot to use instrumentation to navigate, which the craft was not suited for.

The Showcopters are the only civilian helicopter demonstration team in the U.S..  Based out of Salinas, CA, Jim Cheatham, Bob Bolton and Chris Gularte fly two Robinson R44's and one R22.  Jim Cheatham, founder of Verticare, has operated out of Salinas since 1970 and formed the three-ship Showcopter team in 1996.  The aircraft lost was acquired in 1998 and was considered Salinas' 'Eye in the Sky' for local news stations.  Their innovative camera was named the 'Sky Eye' and has covered events such as the Reno Air Races and AirVenture '99.

FMI: www.showcopters.com