HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board continue to investigate why a helicopter experienced catastrophic engine failure and crashed onto S. 50th Street near Palm River Road, killing a man inside of a pickup truck at the intersection.

The crash occurred around 2:16 p.m. Thursday afternoon, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office. 

Sheriff Chad Chronister said the helicopter, identified as a Robinson R 44 model, had been serviced in the Tampa Bay area and was headed back to Sarasota when the engine apparently stalled mid-flight.  

The man who died, identified late Thursday as Deodat Persaud Gangapersaud, 72, was a passenger in the pickup truck, traveling with his son, Ryan Persaud. 

Chronister said one of the rotor blades came off of the helicopter when it crashed and went through the windshield of the truck, striking and killing Gangapersaud.

NTSB investigator Dan Boggs said Persaud went to the hospital with some cuts but is expected to be OK physically. 

"Debris fell everywhere"

Alejandro Bou-Colon was washing cars at Top Choice Automobile Sales across the street when he saw the helicopter make the emergency landing.

“It started trying to land in that patch of grass, but then it kept on sliding and sliding until it hit the pole and cut the pole in half," Bou-Colon said. "Debris fell everywhere." 

Bou-Colon said he was counting his blessings that the helicopter didn’t crash into his family’s business. 

“Very scary," he said. "It was probably like 100, 200 feet away from me and it could’ve been us that got hit or a building or something. It could’ve been worse."

 

 

"Pilot did a great job" 

Boggs said the pilot, Bryant Thomas Messick, did the best he could considering the circumstances.

“The pilot did a great job," he explained. "He was auto rotating, which means he was using gravity to make sure the rotor blades were spinning fast enough."

"There was a truck underneath him. He made sure he didn’t land on the truck," Boggs went on. "He was floating it as long as he could until the truck passed by. Unfortunately, he did have a little forward momentum, so when the metal skids hit the grass he did slide."

Boggs went on to say a mechanic was on board the helicopter with Messick at the time of the crash. Both were taken to the hospital to be examined. 

The helicopter, meanwhile, will be transported to an NTSB facility in Jacksonville to be examined. The agency expects to release a preliminary report on what led up to the crash in two weeks.

It could be 18 months before they release its final report.