Helicopter Crashes on Highway 101

A Bell 47G-5 chopper like this smacked into Highway 101 this morning

​First beer, then choppers.

Odd items have plagued Bay Area highways in consecutive days (what's next? Frogs? Locusts?). A helicopter crashed onto Highway 101, almost exactly 24 hours after a beer truck overturned on Highway 17, dousing suds onto the pavement.

Astoundingly, the pilot of the upside-down and mangled helicopter now resting on 101 near Salinas walked away from the twisted wreckage.

The agricultural Bell 47G-5 helicopter took off from nearby Salinas Municipal Airport and crashed at just after 6 a.m. Media reports cite federal records indicating the 40-year-old helicopter was registered to Salinas-based Gomes Farm Air Service, Inc.

California Highway Patrol officials believe they can have the scene cleared within two hours.

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