Cause of Riverside County helicopter crash remains a mystery
The cause of the March 24 helicopter crash into a Nuevo hillside remains unknown according to a report released Wednesday by federal investigators.
The two victims of the Bell 407 helicopter hillside crash have been identified as Mark Carter, 61, and Dennis Foster, 62.
Both were residents of Murrieta and first responders found them dead at the crash site in Riverside County.
The crash happened around 12:40 p.m. March 24, with the "aircraft emergency" call going out roughly 10 miles northwest of Hemet-Ryan Airport, at the base of hills in Lakeview, neighboring Perris and Hemet.
Authorities reported that the aircraft had departed only 10 minutes earlier with no distress broadcasts before it went down.
Mark Carter was the pilot and he had 25 years of flight experience. His niece said he volunteered his time and helicopter to fly organs for a nonprofit. Carter was not flying for the nonprofit at the time of the crash, but his niece did say he regularly flew the same French Valley to Big Bear route.
The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board report so far that there aren't any clues as to what might have caused the seven-seat helicopter to slam into the hillside.
