I don't know if anyone else saw this but The San Antonio news had a report of a two seat chopper that crashed while hog hunting in La Salle Co. about 11am Sat. morning. Both the pilot and the hunter( who was from Houston) were killed. It looked like the it hit the ground going pretty fast but it was sitting upright - no fire. It didn't look like it was close to any trees. FAA investigating.

I understand a R-22 chopper, good machine.
Too bad for the loss. No real details on the crash yet????

Flying low and slow is a hazardous combination in a chopper. Anything goes wrong and you have little to no time to react. They are fragile beasts too. In my 30 yrs, never had to file an accident report--and I walked away from every landing!

The videos I've watched of hog hunting from choppers convinced me that I don't want to try it. Too much chance of the pilot paying too much attention to the hogs instead of flying--I know if I was the one flying, I'd be tempted to watch the action, and that's dangerous.

The ranch manager and ranch hand, where I usually hunt in Dilley, had seen the heli flying that morning. The manager new the pilot who was out of Uvalde, Tx. It is a sad thing and prayers go out to the families of both men.

Hope this doesn't put a stop to the new law that allows the hunting of hogs from the air? This is the first year they have legally allowed hunters to hunt by air other than depredation hunts by the landowner or government hunter.

JMO, and I probably should not be saying this, but I believe it will put this issue in a whole different light now.

I think I mentioned this in the original thread about the legalizing of helicopter hog hunting.

I feel, and even though I do not agree with it, that there are probably already some lawyers looking at this incident and how they can profit from it.

I feel that there are going to be lots of liability issues raised on this one.

My heart felt condolences to the families of the pilot and the hunter.

Anyone who thinks flying in a helicopter, especially an R22, close to the ground is really safe is kidding themselves. They were taking their chances, like we all do to one extent or another everyday, and the odds caught up with them. Shit happens all the time, whether it's cars, planes, buses, trains, or choppers.......

My condolences to the bereaved, but we aren't cancelling deer hunting because some people get killed driving to or from their deer lease nor should we cancel hog heli-hunting because two consenting adults got killed doing it.

So sorry to hear of this.
I once heard it said that "Altitude is life, speed is your salvation."
Low to the ground is dangerous business!

here's copy from the paper::COTULLA, Texas -- A helicopter crash during a hunting trip on a ranch in south Texas left the pilot and a passenger dead.

The Texas Department of Public Safety on Monday identified the victims as the 40-year-old pilot, Brian Keith Faglie of Uvalde, and 52-year-old Dale Allen Jones of Houston. DPS says both were pronounced dead by a La Salle County justice of the peace.

The cause of Saturday’s crash of a Robinson R22 is sought. The accident happened at a ranch about 13 miles north of Cotulla, in the Dilley area. The small helicopter went down in a field.

Investigator Tim LeBaron with the National Transportation Safety Board says Faglie was the pilot during the hog hunting trip. LeBaron says the weather was not bad at the time of the crash late Saturday morning.