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NTSB: Greenville couple taking helicopter in for maintenance before fatal crash

GREENVILLE, Ohio (WDTN) – The National Transportation Safety Board has released a preliminary report concerning the helicopter crash that killed a Greenville couple in June.

On June 7, a small, two-seater helicopter crashed on the 5000 block of Hogpath road in Greenville, killing the pilot, 34-year-old Charles Zimmer, and his wife, 35-year-old student pilot Krista Zimmer.

The NTSB said the couple owned the helicopter, and it was often used for agricultural spraying on the family farm.

According to the report, the Zimmers had removed the spray equipment, and they had planned to fly to the Warren County Airport in Lebanon to drop the helicopter off for scheduled maintenance. They left the hangar facility where they stored the helicopter at approximately 9:25 a.m. Less than 20 minutes later, police received a call that the helicopter had crashed in the Zimmers’ driveway, approximately three miles from where they took off.

The helicopter came to rest upright, and a fire began in the back of the cockpit before spreading to the forward tail boom area. The cockpit itself was crushed.

Bystanders worked to free Charles Zimmer from the cockpit, and he was brought to the hospital where he died of his injuries, Krista Zimmer was declared dead on the scene.

There were no witnesses to the accident, the report said, and the pilot had not contacted air traffic control. No tracking data was captured for the accident flight.

The helicopter wreckage has been retained for further investigation, said the report. At this time, no cause for the accident has been released.