UPDATE – A recovery team from Georgia recovered the downed Hughes 500 chopper from the Tennessee River about 1:00pm today. The aircraft wreckage was put on a flatbed and is now enroute to an N.T.S.B. facility. As of 3:00pm no still sign of the pilot, who remains unidentified.
CHEROKEE – Recovery crews are loading equipment onto a barge which was sent from The Shoals area down to Colbert Landing Park on the Natchez Trace. The plan is to have the wreckage of the HU-500 observation helicopter lifted by the end of the day today. A big complication in their plans could be the weather, which is expected to deteriorate significantly by early afternoon.
The helicopter, which went down in a rainstorm Monday afternoon, is located in the boat channel about 30 feet down, just about a quarter mile downstream of the Natchez Trace Bridge. The pilot, as yet identified, has not been found. The search continues, but as with the aircraft recovery effort, weather is proving to be quite a problem.
