iStock/Thinkstock(MANKATO, Minn.) — A boy around six years of age hopped into a medevac helicopter that was on display at a Minnesota air show on Monday, and managed to get it started, causing a panic and two minor injuries.
According to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, the enthusiastic attendee of the Minnesota Air Spectacular at the Mankato Regional Airport jumped into the Mayo Clinic’s unoccupied Eurocopter EC145, and accidentally started the helo’s rotors.
The resulting prop wash toppled a fabric sun shade into spectators, leading to two minor injuries, as a crew member jumped into the craft to shut it down and get the child out.
Eyewitness Agro Gushwa, a ticket taker at the show, shot the scene with his cellphone. He told the paper that once the pint-sized pilot was taken out of the helicopter, he was, “crying really bad,” and, “ran to his father, who gave him a hug and told him it was OK…”
Air show Director Mark Knoff tell the paper that a Federal Aviation Administration official who was on hand to monitor the air show was informed about the “unfortunate incident,” and a federal investigation is underway as to how the potentially deadly situation could have happened.
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