Ventura County Pilot, Co-Pilot ID'd In Helicopter Crash

MOORPARK, CA — Six helicopter crash victims were positively identified this week, including the pilot and copilot from Ventura County, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Coroners Division.

The flight left Palm Springs Friday evening, bound for Boulder City, Nevada, when it crash-landed near Barstow. An executive of a Nigerian bank, his wife and son, and the former chair of the Nigerian Exchange Group were all among those identified in the crash, according to the coroner's office.

Among those identified in the crash were Ventura County-based pilot and co-pilot Blake R. Hansen, 22, a resident of Moorpark, and Benjamin D. Pettingill, 25, a resident of Camarillo.

Previously identified were Herbert O. Wigwe, 57; Doreen C. Wigwe, 56; Herbert C. Wigwe, 29; and Abimbola O. Ogunbanjo, 61, all residents of Lagos, Nigeria.

The cause of the crash is under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration. Inquiries about the crash should be directed accordingly.

After a weekend of searching, all of the major components of the Airbus Eurocopter EC130 helicopter were recovered at the crash site on Sunday, including the three main rotor blades, the main transmission, the tail rotor, landing gear skids, and various avionics components, National Transportation Safety Board Member Michael Graham told reporters.

NTSB flight-tracking data showed the helicopter traveling along I-15 about 1000 to 1,500 feet above ground. Near the end of the flight, the aircraft took a slight right turn, turning south of the interstate, and then had a gradual descent and increasing ground speed before flight data ended about a quarter-mile from the wreckage, Graham said. "The wreckage site shows the helicopter impacted the terrain in a nose-low, right-bank angle."

The wreckage will be moved Tuesday to a secure location for further examination, he said.

Weather conditions at the time of the crash between NTSB meteorologists and witnesses at the scene agree that there was rain and wintery mist in the area at the time of the crash, said Graham.

The crash was reported at 10:08 p.m. Friday about a quarter-mile east of Interstate 15 near Halloran Springs Road, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department and National Transportation Safety Board Member Michael Graham.

According to Graham, the Airbus Eurocopter EC130 helicopter had taken off from Palm Springs at 8:45 p.m. en route to Boulder City, Nevada. The French-made helicopter was chartered from Orbit Air, LLC in Burbank, he said.

Orbit Air did not answer requests for comment as of this report.

"This is the beginning of a long process," Graham said of the federal investigation. Investigators will start at the crash scene "gathering perishable evidence," and the probe will likely take 12 to 24 months to complete.

The NTSB planned to investigate media reports of downed power lines in the area and witness reports of rain and "wintery mist," Graham said.

Witnesses reported seeing fire in the crash area, he said.

"May the souls of the departed rest in perfect peace," Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, World Trade Organization Director General, posted on social media. "My deepest sympathies and condolences to the Wigwe family, the Ogunbanjo family, Access Bank Group employees, and Management."

"The news of the passing of the chief executive officer of Access Bank Holdings, Dr. Herbert Wigwe, who died in a helicopter crash in the United States of America, has left me extremely shocked and devastated," said Godwin Obaseki, governor of Edo State, located in the South-South geopolitical zone of the federal republic of Nigeria.

"We also unfortunately lost Wigwe's wife and son, as well as the former group chairman of Nigeria Stock Exchange, Abimbola Ogunbanjo, in the crash," he said.

"Wigwe was a colossus in Nigeria's financial sector, leading Access Bank to become an international brand that placed Nigeria on the global map of first-class financial services," Obaseki said. "The tragic incident is painful and heart-wrenching, and we pray for God's abiding comfort in this profoundly difficult time."

City News Service contributed to this report.