Pilot Killed in MN Helicopter Crash was from California

ROCHESTER, MN — Authorities say a California man was crop dusting when his helicopter crashed in a southern Minnesota field, killing him.

Olmsted County authorities say Sunday that 68-year-old Allen Joseph Broussard of Grenada Hills was a contract pilot who spent the last seven summers dusting fields in Minnesota.

He was the only person in the helicopter when it crashed near Rochester on Saturday.

Authorities say the 1967 Bell model 47G4A helicopter was owned by Scott’s Helicopter Service of LeSueur.

At the time of the accident, the aircraft had been refueled and taken on more insecticide. Witnesses told authorities they saw a flame and smoke coming from the exhaust area before the crash. The helicopter was found in a grassy area between crop fields, and it was leaking kerosene fuel.

Broussard was found unconscious and partially outside the wreckage of the helicopter.

The Federal Aviation Administration and the NTSB are curently investigating.