Two people were injured Sunday in the crash of a small helicopter at the Santa Barbara Airport, according to the Santa Barbara Fire Department.
The crash occurred shortly after 9:30 a.m. in the slough area of the airfield, just west of Runway 15 Right, which runs north-south, according to fire Engineer Kevin Corbett.
The two occupants of the aircraft sustained minor to moderate injuries, Corbett said, and were transported by American Medical Response ambulance to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital.
Their names and details on their conditions were not available Sunday afternoon.
Photos of the damaged helicopter, which came to rest on its side, show a tail number of N177SR, which Federal Aviation Administration records indicate belongs to a Robinson Helicopter R22 Beta registered to Tumbleweed Leasing Co. Inc. out of Salt Lake City.
It could not immediately be determined who was operating the aircraft, but the FlightAware website shows a history of the helicopter making mostly short-duration flights — ranging from 14 minutes to nearly two hours — out of the Santa Barbara Airport.
The incident was under investigation, Corbett said, adding that no further information was being released.
Check back with Noozhawk for updates to this story.
— Noozhawk executive editor Tom Bolton can be reached at tbolton@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
