Boxborough police requested the assistance of Harvard police just before 5 p.m last Wednesday at the scene of a helicopter crash on Beaver Brook Road in Boxborough, close to the Harvard town line, in which one person was killed and one was seriously injured.
According to a report by WBZ TV38 News, Mike Wheeler, 57, of Watertown, N.Y., was training a woman to become an instructor, and while they were practicing a simulated engine failure, the helicopter lost power and the two were unable to restart the engine. They attempted a landing on Beaver Brook Road in Boxborough, but the chopper hit some trees and crashed in the woods. Wheeler was killed and the student, whose name has not been released, was taken by MedFlight to UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester for treatment of two broken hips.
Wheeler was an aviation safety inspector for the Federal Aviation Administration.
Harvard Detective Greg Newman told the Press that state police are working with officials from the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration on the crash investigation. The final report is expected to be released in six to nine months.