GOLDEN - A private helicopter crashed Sunday afternoon near Buffalo Bill's grave on Lookout Mountain, but no injuries were reported.
According to an incident report for the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, Chase Telfer, Brent King and Jeremiah Whitlock were on board when the helicopter went down.
The helicopter was hovering 100 feet above skateboarders in the Buffalo Bill Downhill competition and shooting aerial footage of the long-board race.
According to the incident report, the pilot tried to make a turn and reverse the chopper's direction, and that's when the main rotor slowed down. Just a few yards were all that separated the out-of-control helicopter from a crowd of people.
Former National Transportation Safety Board investigator Greg Feith says the pilot was able to land the chopper in a grassy area, away from the race and spectators.
"Based on the information so far, it's evident that he didn't want to hurt anybody on the ground, and was able to minimize the risk exposure, if you will, to the people on the ground and in the helicopter," Feith said.
He then exercised what Feith calls another appropriate reaction by making sure the rotors had stopped spinning before telling his two passengers to exit.
"The pilot said, 'Evacuate, evacuate!' This passenger escaped out of the aircraft, went up the hill, because the aircraft started leaking fuel. The fire hazard went up," Feith said.
The expert says investigators will be looking into a series of things to explain what went wrong, potentially pilot error, mechanical problems or weather conditions.
"I think the pilot did an excellent job avoiding the crowd. I'll be back flying with Heli-Ops tomorrow morning. I can't say anything more than that until after the investigation is complete," King told 9NEWS on Tuesday.
The incident report says the helicopter was registered to Colorado Heli-ops, a private company out of Broomfield. The owner of the company did not comment.
Several witnesses saw the helicopter go down, but no onlookers were injured.
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