Posted at: 06/11/2009 12:33 PM
Updated at: 06/11/2009 6:41 PM
By: Reed Upton and Charlie Pabst, KOB.com

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Pilot, hiker found dead

Sgt. Andy Tingwall and Megumi Yamamoto; piece of wreckage from the state police helicopter

The remains of Sgt. Andy Tingwall and Megumi Yamamoto, a UNM physics graduate student from Tokyo, were being transported Thursday afternoon by an escorted motorcade from the search staging area at the base of Santa Fe Baldy to the Office of the Medical Investigator.

Segotta said that the actual causes of death are to be determined by a medical investigator.

A third person aboard the helicopter when it crashed Tuesday night was Officer Wesley Cox who, despite a broken leg, managed to walk far enough away from the crash scene to reach a search crew, according to Segotta.

Cox was discovered at about 12:45 Wednesday afternoon and immediately airlifted to Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center in Santa Fe to be treated for extreme hypothermia.

Segotta said searchers were unable to locate the helicopter based on Cox’s initial description of the crash scene on Thursday afternoon because Cox’s “time and space was distorted.”

Searchers were unable to use aircraft to aid the search during the day Wednesday because of bad weather.

Authorities spent the rest of Wednesday searching the mountains near the crash for signs of the pilot and Yamamoto, who had been camping with a boyfriend, also a student at the university.

Late Wednesday, two crews located the helicopter’s fuselage and other debris that had been scattered down the mountainside. The chief said the debris field stretched about 800 feet in steep terrain.

The crash occurred northeast of Baldy peak in the Santa Fe Mountains, at about 12,000 feet, officials said. A crew of 18 people hiked through the night in an effort to reach the lower end of the debris field. Segotta said three campers near Lake Stewart saw the helicopter take off and fly around the north side of the mountain, then heard its rotors rev to a high pitch. They then saw a flash of light and heard the crash, he said.

At first light Thursday morning, two Black Hawk helicopters landed at the base of what was described as an 800 foot “debris field” depositing two teams of searchers who approached the debris from separate angles.

The remains were found before noon but an official announcement was delayed. Law enforcement will often delay announcing a death until family members have been identified.

The helicopter may have crashed into the mountainside after the tail rotor hit something and subsequently failed to gain enough altitude to negotiate a safe landing, Segotta said.

A memorial fund has been set up in honor of Tingwall. Donations can be made at any Wells Fargo Bank under the name of "Tingwall Memorial Fund."

 State police announce bodies found
 Video from Chopper 4
 Searchers tackle 'debris field'
 Tingwall celebrated as hero cop
 Officer gives account of crash