Accidents
Van Horn Assures Blades Safe Following Fatal Crash
Bell 206 crashed in Arizona while on a test flight with experimental Van Horn blades.
Contract experimental test pilot Rucie Moore and Van Horn Aviation engineering manager Stephen Estes were killed in the crash of a Bell 206 on a test flight.
Contract experimental test pilot Rucie Moore and Van Horn Aviation engineering manager Stephen Estes were killed in the crash of a Bell 206 on a test flight.

Van Horn Aviation (VHA) assured customers that its composite rotor blades were safe on Friday following the crash last Tuesday of a 1981 Bell 206B III that was on a company test flight. The accident killed contract experimental test pilot Rucie Moore and Van Horn engineering manager Stephen Estes, the sole occupants. Registered to TRE Aviation in Wilmington, Delaware, the helicopter went down just after 7 a.m. local time in a field near Fountain Hills, Arizona, and was consumed by a post-crash fire.