Utah County man among Americans killed in helicopter crash in Peru

The two Peruvians were co-pilot Igor Castillo and mechanic Luis Ramos, the company said in a news release.

Company officials said they had no immediate information on what might have caused the crash. They said a senior management team was headed to Peru to assist local authorities in the investigation.

Peterson denied reports in local media suggesting the aircraft might have been overloaded.

“I can say categorically that the aircraft was not overloaded,” he said, adding that the load list was destroyed in the crash but company officials had a good idea of what was on board and believe the Chinook, combined with its load, weighed about 47,000 pounds.

That would be 4,000 pounds less than its maximum gross limit. The helicopter weighs 21,000 pounds empty, Peterson said.

Contributing: Andrew Wittenberg

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