A routine power line inspection turned deadly Tuesday in Northwest Arkansas. Two men died when their helicopter crashed near the Norfork Dam.

Show Me Power Co-op out of Marshfield, Missouri leased the helicopter for routine aerial surveying of the power lines and power system in the area of Norfork Dam, that's about 10 miles from Mountain Home. But somehow that survey went terribly wrong.

"We were sitting in the office and our lights flickered"

It wasn't long before Lieutenant Terry Johnson and the rest of the Baxter County Sheriff's department heard what caused the power surge.

"We got a 911 of a possible airplane hit the power lines, it went down and they could see smoke"

It was actually a helicopter. Inside 51 year old Randall Arthur, who worked for Show Me Power and 57 year old James Evertsen. Evertsen was the pilot and owner of Ozark Mountain Helicopters, based out of Branson.

In May, KSPR rode with Evertsen's son, Casey, and took an aerial tour of the city.
Ozark Mountain Helicopters usually gives tourists a bird’s eye view of Branson...
Casey told KSPR, Show-Me Power hired his father and Arthur to inspect power lines near the dam.

The crash site is very remote; it can only be reached by foot or all-terrain vehicle.

"Everybody had to be shown in and out we walked off the mountain about 500 yards down through brush down to it"

The FAA expects the National Transportation Safety Board to investigate the crash over the coming days.

A spokesman for the Army Corps of Engineers says the helicopter clipped transmission lines running from the dam.

He says the crash cut the lines and sparked two power surges in generators at the Bull Shoals and Norfork power plants.