Friday, Nov. 15, 2019 | 1:10 p.m.
Federal crash investigators say a rented helicopter that crashed near Las Vegas last month, killing two men, was found to have sediment in its fuel tanks just hours before the fatal flight.
A preliminary National Transportation Safety Administration report released Tuesday says a flight instructor who canceled his plan to use the helicopter earlier that day due to the fuel problem reported later that maintenance was done and the aircraft was available for use.
The NTSB says the unidentified flight instructor didn’t speak with investigators.
Pilot Scott Socquet of Milford, Connecticut, and passenger Howard Jameson of New Fairfield, Connecticut, were fatally injured in the Oct. 23 crash near Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area.
The report says no evidence of a catastrophic engine failure was found in the wreckage of the Robinson R44 helicopter.
