A Manatee County Mosquito Control District helicopter pilot, Isaac “Ike” Moore, 63, was killed at about 8:54 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 15, when his Bell 407 crashed behind homes in the 10000 block of 289th Street East in Myakka City, FL, after striking what the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office described as a private radio tower. WirelessEstimator has determined that the towers at the site are amateur radio towers on property owned by Daniel E. Street, a licensed amateur radio operator who runs an amateur radio tower and antenna installation business from the same address.
Moore was the only person aboard. Residents near Dakin Dairy Farms pulled him from the wreckage before deputies, East Manatee Fire Rescue and Manatee County EMS arrived, and he was pronounced dead at the scene. The aircraft caught fire, and no one on the ground was hurt, WUSF reported.
Moore was on his first mission of the night and was heading back to Ellenton to reload and refuel for a second, NTSB air safety investigator Gene Rambo said at a Friday briefing. A second district helicopter spraying nearby saw the crash and landed safely. The district said Moore had more than 25 years of helicopter experience and about 10,000 flight hours, much of it with the Columbus, Ohio, Division of Police, which called him “an incredible officer, pilot and professional.”…