The pilot of the helicopter involved in Sunday’s crash has been identified as Chase Olsen, a resident of the State of Utah.
A GoFundMe circulating on social media identifies Olsen, a resident of Toquerville, Utah, and notes he is currently in the hospital in Pittsburgh receiving treatment.
Olsen is a father of two girls and a boy, according to the page created on April 9. The GoFundMe indicates it was created to help with medical bills while he recovers from his injuries. As of Tuesday evening, the funding effort is almost halfway to the $10,000 goal.
Olsen is the only survivor of the helicopter crash that occurred at 5:30 p.m. Sunday near Smethport, which killed Shane Filkins, 23, of West Virginia and Michael Koon, 35, of South Carolina. The two were tethered to the helicopter, working outside of it on power lines.
The crash is currently under investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board.
The helicopter was owned by High Line Helicopters of Virginia and was under contract to J.W. Didado Electric of Akron, Ohio. The helicopter and Didado employees were involved in construction on the Pierce Brook-Lewis Run Transmission Project, a 15-mile, 230-kilovolt power line between existing substations in Bradford and Keating Townships.
The preliminary report on the crash could be available within the next week to two weeks on the National Transportation Safety Board website, according to NTSB officials. Meanwhile, the complete investigation into the crash could take up to two years.
