Dramatic Lake Michigan helicopter crash, rescue on tap in WMU talk

KALAMAZOO, Mich.—The horrific crash of an Amway helicopter and dramatic rescue of survivors from cool Lake Michigan waters will be recounted when the pilot of the craft appears next week at Western Michigan University.

Rick Fiddler, vice president of aviation from Amway Corp. and pilot of the Sikorsky S-76 that ill-fated day Sept. 14, 1983, will give a first-person account at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 6, in 208 Bernhard Center. His presentation is sponsored by the WMU Aviation Student Council and is free and open to WMU students, faculty and staff and the public.

Off to a smooth start

It was a great day to fly when Fiddler and co-pilot Larry Murphy and Amway executives set off from what is now Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids for a conference in downtown Chicago. It was a smooth flight and all went well on the trip there.

A tragic turn

Things took a tragic turn on the return flight. Lifting off at about 7 p.m., they were halfway across Lake Michigan when they heard what sounded like a shotgun blast from the tail of chopper. Within 30 seconds, the craft slammed into Lake Michigan, and the relatively new 3-year-old helicopter began to fill rapidly with water.

The rescue

Fiddler will describe how the two pilots and four passengers donned life jackets, bobbed in 54-degree water and watched as dusk descended until the pilot of a passing Leer jet, who was aware of the crash, saw what turned out to be the plume of the copter's drifting fuel slick. Fiddler, now in his early 60s and supervisor of Amway's fleet of aircraft, will talk about how a Coast Guard rescue team had begun to search in the wrong spot for the downed aircraft and how the crash impacted the life perspectives of both passengers and crew alike.

For more information, contact Tracey Kauppila at (269) 964-4544 or tracey.kauppila@wmich.edu.

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