SAN DIEGO The pilot was killed after a U.S. Customs and Border Protection helicopter crashed Monday in Potrero, which is located near the U.S.-Mexico border in the far southeast region of San Diego County, according to CBP.
Around 10 a.m., a CBP official said the CBP Air and Marine Operations plane crashed while on a border security mission two miles south of Barrett Lake and north of state Route 94.
According to CBP, the crash claimed the life of one CBP Air Interdiction Agent, who was the only person on board and the pilot.
Shortly after the collision, SkyRanger7 flew over the scene, revealing the wreckage at the hemp farm Sol Valley Ranch in the midst of an open field.
Dozens of border patrol officers surrounded the procession route late Monday afternoon.
The helicopter took off from Brown Field, some 20 miles west, at roughly 9 a.m., according to FlightAware’s flight tracker, which Robert Katz, a commercial pilot with over 40 years of experience, told NBC 7 over the phone.
Granite Coast Mapping is the firm that makes the Eurocopter AS350 B3. Although that company has a Coronado location, not much else is known about it.
According to Katz, the track log doesn’t indicate that there was a problem with the helicopter itself, even if the flight track shows the pilot flying erratically before crashing. According to him, there were clear viewing circumstances and it was first flying extremely low to the ground.
A CBP representative told NBC 7 that the Air and Marine Operations are a distinct division of the agency.
On Monday afternoon, the National Transportation Safety Board tweeted on X that it was looking into the collision.
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