Two Die, Two Hurt in Crash of Helicopter Near Mojave Desert

A helicopter taking wildlife experts to observe bighorn sheep crashed in a deep ravine at the edge of the Mojave Desert, killing two people and injuring two others, authorities said Tuesday.

Word that the helicopter had crashed in the ravine, about 5,000 feet up Clark Mountain, reached San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputies at 6:20 p.m. Monday, Sgt. Ronald Mahoney said.

The time of the crash was uncertain, but it was believed to have been about 10 hours earlier, said Pat Moore, information officer for the California Department of Fish and Game in Long Beach.

The pilot, James Donald Landell of Desert Hot Springs, a native of Canada, and Jim Bicket of Mohave Valley, Ariz., a U.S. Bureau of Land Management wildlife biologist, were killed, Deputy Bill Bond said.

Landell, 59, a veteran helicopter pilot, was well known for rescues of stranded hikers and flood victims and for his pursuit of bighorn sheep during annual sheep counts.

But he was perhaps best known for hoisting tramway parts, some of them weighing up to 800 pounds, up the rugged and narrow confines of Chino Canyon during construction of the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway more than 20 years ago.

Suffering major injuries and taken to Valley Hospital in Las Vegas were Richard Weaver, a California Department of Fish and Game wildlife biologist from Placer County, and another man identified only as Jerry Waggoner of Palm Springs.

Weaver, who suffered a broken leg, crushed knee and facial cuts, was in stable condition Tuesday, Moore said. Waggoner was listed in stable condition with upper-body injuries.

The cause of the crash of the privately owned Bell 206 helicopter was unknown.

The aircraft, which took off at 8 a.m., was taking the biologists on a survey of the bighorn sheep population on Clark Mountain, Moore said.

Moore said Weaver had been active for years in studying wild sheep, which have declined precipitously from being widely hunted.

Weaver had been “responsible to a great degree with the enhancement of wild sheep in the state,” Moore said.

Although wild sheep are still protected, a recently signed bill allows very limited hunting.