TROY GENTRY: Helicopter Ride Was Impromptu

Brian Rayner of the National Transportation Safety Board tells People that the copter ride was spur of the moment. Not long after take off the pilot announced over his radio that the aircraft was having control issues. He says, “A couple of different responses to that challenge were discussed, and he was performing an auto rotational descent to runway one.”

The helicopter missed the runway and crashed into low shrubbery.

The 30-year-old pilot James Evan Robinson, who had two years of flight experience, died at the scene. Troy later died at an area hospital.

The investigation is ongoing and could last for more than a year.