Pilot treated after copter crash

Wed., Nov. 7, 2007

Associated Press The Spokesman-Review

KELSO, Wash. – A helicopter working under contract for the Weyerhaeuser Co. crashed Tuesday near Merrill Lake near Cougar, but the pilot survived.

The Cowlitz County Sheriff’s Office says the pilot was able to call for assistance on his radio and then crawl out of the demolished copter. The pilot was taken to Southwest Washington Medical Center in Vancouver, where he was treated and released.

The Sheriff’s Office says a witness who spoke to the pilot said the helicopter may have hooked a cable attached to a large bucket that was being used to spread fertilizer, throwing the copter out of rotation and onto its side.

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