Helicopter was flying low, clipped wires, trooper says

The last parade unit passed the location seconds before the craft came down.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
BERLIN CENTER -- The town's annual Memorial Day parade ended tragically Sunday when a helicopter piloted by a Berlin Center man clipped a utility line and crashed onto U.S. Route 224, narrowly missing parade marchers.
No one on the ground was hurt, but the pilot, Howard Wiggs, 65, of 16007 W. Akron-Canfield Road (Route 224) died in the crash.
The crash could have been much worse.
Witnesses said that the helicopter came down only about 200 yards from Wiggs' home and missed the last unit in the parade by mere feet. There were hundreds of children participating in the parade, which had started at Western Reserve Middle School and went west along Route 224 about one-half mile to West Berlin Cemetery for a memorial service and then headed back to the middle school.
Flying low
Sgt. Bret Henderson of the Ohio State Highway Patrol said Wiggs was flying low along Route 224 just above the parade marchers as they were moving back to the school when his helicopter clipped a wire about 50 feet in the air, less than one-half mile from state Route 534, shortly after 3 p.m.
His flight was not part of the Memorial Day activities, Henderson said.
A Berlin Center firefighter, who declined to give his name, said he was behind the last unit in the parade, blocking traffic, when the helicopter came flying west close to the ground and hit the wire.
The craft flipped over and crashed onto the eastbound lane of the highway, the firefighter said.
The engine kept running for several minutes, but the rotors snapped off when the craft hit the highway, said another firefighter, who also declined to give his name. The helicopter didn't catch fire, he said.
The craft had a large plastic glass bubble over the two-seat cockpit, and debris from the bubble and parts of the craft were scattered over a 50-square-yard area.
Henderson said Wiggs was dead at the scene. His body was removed by the Mahoning County coroner's office. A report from the coroner's office was unavailable Sunday.
Witnesses said Wiggs took off and flew over the cemetery just as the memorial service was taking place. The parade participants saw him again as he flew low over the parade route.
Witnesses said they could see Wiggs looking down at them as he flew overhead.
Neighbor's comments
Dean Allcorn, who lives next door to Wiggs, said Wiggs got the helicopter and built a small hangar and landing pad to keep it at his home about two years ago.
Wiggs, retired from Broadway Trucking, lived alone and had served in the military during the Vietnam War, Allcorn said. He's owned airplanes and helicopters before but never kept one at his home, Allcorn said.
Allcorn was in the parade with a group of Boy Scouts and said he heard the crash behind him.
"You could just hear like shrapnel flying," he said, as the rotors disintegrated. Had the craft come down a few seconds earlier, it would have landed on some of the marchers, he said.
Allcorn said he's known Wiggs for about 12 years.
"I liked him. He was a great guy and a great neighbor," Allcorn said.
Wiggs didn't fly every day and said a couple of weeks ago that he was going to cut back on his flying time because aviation fuel for his helicopter was getting very expensive, Allcorn said.
Route 224 remained closed to traffic for hours as authorities awaited the arrival of FAA officials to investigate the crash.
gwin@vindy.com