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Pilot is killed in NE Iowa crop-dusting helicopter crash

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July 30th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – A Kansas man has died after his crop-dusting helicopter crashed in northeast Iowa. Chickasaw County Sheriff Ryan Shawver says that at about 1:30 pm Monday afternoon, they received a 911 call of a recording that the owner of the iPhone has been involved in a crash and gave coordinates. Deputies were dispatched and determined a crop-dusting helicopter had crashed northeast of Nashua. The pilot, Eleazar Villafranca Junior of Manhattan, Kansas, was pronounced dead at the scene by the Chickasaw County Medical Examiner.

A full autopsy has been ordered to be completed by the Iowa State Medical Examiners Office. The crash site remains under investigation by the Iowa State Patrol, the FAA and the NTSB.