One person is dead after a Manatee County Mosquito Control District helicopter crashed into a radio tower near Dakin Dairy Farm in Myakka City. The crash happened in the 10,000 block of 289th Street E., and East Manatee County fire crews confirmed the person killed did not survive the impact.
According to FOX 13 Tampa Bay, officials have not confirmed whether anyone else was onboard the aircraft during the crash landing. The Manatee County Sheriff's Office said two helicopters were flying in the area when the crash happened, and the other one landed safely and tried to help the one that crashed.
Pilot Believed Among the Dead
The person killed was believed to be a pilot, according to WFLA, which also pinpointed the crash site as the 10,000 block of 289th Street E., near Dakin Dairy. East Manatee County fire crews and the Manatee County Sheriff's Office both responded to the scene in Manatee County. Fire crews confirmed that the FAA is also responding to investigate.
No other information was immediately available as crews continued to respond and investigate the crash, the station's report noted. Officials have not released the cause of the collision with the radio tower, and no further details on the aircraft's flight path or the circumstances leading up to impact have been made public.
Aircraft Tied to District's Spray Fleet
Registration records reviewed by FlightAware identify N407LD as a 2003 Bell 407 owned by the Manatee County Mosquito Control District, though officials have not formally confirmed that this specific aircraft was involved in the crash. Fleet data compiled by eFlight lists the district as the registered owner of five aircraft based mainly in Ellenton, Florida, including two Bell 407 helicopters, a Hughes 369D, a Hylio AG 230 and a McDonnell Douglas 369FF. The same registry noted no NTSB record in the past ten years under the fleet's current tail numbers.
Mosquito-control helicopters like the Bell 407 are typically used for aerial spraying over low-lying and rural areas. A regulatory document filed with the EPA describes a Manatee County mosquito-control helicopter's operational altitude as 150 feet and airspeed as 105 mph, with a high-pressure spray system built in-house by district employees, according to a filing on regulations.gov. A 2023 state review posted by OPPAGA noted the district purchased two Bell 407 helicopters from Lee County Mosquito Control District in fiscal year 2017-18, paying $1.7 million each for a combined $3.4 million.
A Grim Echo From Minnesota
Fatal crashes involving mosquito-control helicopters are rare but not unprecedented. In 2013, a Metropolitan Mosquito Control District helicopter crashed into a residential garage in Maplewood, Minnesota, killing pilot Michael Kramer, according to MPR News. That district grounded its remaining helicopters for a day out of respect for Kramer's family while the National Transportation Safety Board investigated the cause, before announcing that operations would resume the following day without a noticeable increase in mosquitoes.
It remains unclear whether Manatee County's mosquito-control helicopter operations will be paused following this week's crash near Dakin Dairy Farm. Officials have not released the identity of the person killed, and the investigation into what caused the aircraft to strike the radio tower remains ongoing.
