DHS Pilot Dies In Fish & Game Chopper Crash

FRESNO -Three California Department of Fish and Game biologists and a pilot are dead after their helicopter crashed in a craggy stretch of the Sierra National Forest, where they were surveying deer herds.

Officials say the crash happened Tuesday afternoon in a narrow canyon near Redinger Lake after the Bell 206 helicopter struck a power line and sparked a blaze that scattered debris throughout a quarter-mile of brush.

Killed in the accident were two longtime state scientists, 40-year-old Clu Cotter and 48-year-old Kevin O’Connor; a scientists’ aide, 31-year-old Tom Stolberg; and pilot Dennis Donovan of Landells Aviation, in Desert Hot Springs.

All three scientists lived in the San Joaquin Valley. Donovan’s hometown was not released.