Lucky to be alive, a Modesto man was also lucky in that local residents stepped in to help him when he needed it most. Bill Cavanaugh, 68, of Modesto was seriously injured and trapped when his crop dusting helicopter crashed in an orchard on McBride Avenue, north of Hall Avenue, in the rural area between Escalon and Riverbank at mid-afternoon on Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2010.

Hall Avenue resident Susan Heiny was working in her front yard when she realized trouble was coming. "I heard the helicopter, heard the engine, it sputtered, the engine coughed about four times," Heiny explained. Cavanaugh was returning from a crop dusting run when the helicopter experienced engine trouble and crashed into the orchard.

Heiny, who is a medical assistant, sprang into action. Also coming to Cavanaugh's aid were three workers who were in the orchard. Jose Vigil, Rigoberto Avila and Juan Vasquez joined Heiny in the rescue effort. "Jose was down below in the walnuts, another one of the workers came in the truck," Heiny explained, noting that they had to drive in more than a quarter mile into the orchard to reach the downed chopper.

"He was upside down," Heiny said of assessing the situation as they arrived on scene. "We all worked together, his leg was pinned but we pulled him out a little bit." Conscious of the need to administer emergency care but also knowing that keeping the patient stable is of utmost importance, Heiny said she flushed his eyes out and tried to rinse out the visible open lacerations. Fire and rescue crews from Escalon arrived shortly afterward.

By MARG JACKSON

mjackson@escalontimes.com

Wreckage left behind when this crop dusting helicopter piloted by Modesto resident Bill Cavanaugh went down in an orchard on McBride Avenue, north of Hall, outside Escalon.

"The bystanders already had the victim out," said Battalion Chief Randy Reid, who was on duty Tuesday afternoon. "There was fuel all over him so they tried to wipe him down." Reid said officials weren't sure at first if they had a hazardous materials incident because of the crop dusting the helicopter was doing, but Cavanaugh had already finished his run and had rinsed out the tanks. There was fuel, but no other chemicals involved. "There were no chemicals on board," Reid said. "That was the biggest thing."  Heiny said having worked at hospitals and seen trauma before, she was familiar with what to do. She praised the farm workers, however, for their willingness to step in and help Cavanaugh make it through. "Those guys, they were great," she said.

She has been in touch with Cavanaugh's family and said she will keep tabs on his progress, recovering from a variety of serious injuries at Memorial Medical Center. "We were so blessed there was no passenger," Heiny said, noting that the way the helicopter went down, it was really a miracle that Cavanaugh escaped with his life. A passenger, she indicated, wouldn't have been that lucky. "I stayed with him," she said of Cavanaugh. "I didn't leave until they got him on the bus (ambulance)."

Administration and National Transportation Safety Board also were brought in and the wreckage of the helicopter was pulled out of the orchard Wednesday afternoon.  "As drastic as the crash was, our part was pretty cut and dried," Reid said of getting in and working with ambulance squad personnel to get Cavanaugh out and on his way to the hospital. "He got out of it somehow. He's a very lucky man.

The call came in just before 2: 15 p.m. on Feb. 2, 2010 said Fire Chief Rick Mello, and initially was reported just as an "aircraft down "with no indication of what type and how many people may have been aboard.  It was updated to the helicopter down with one person inside as crews responded to the scene "The big issue was, was he loaded with the chemical he was spraying? Fortunately he was done spraying and had rinsed out and was heading back to his base, said Mello. Cavanaugh remains hospitalized and family -members have indicated they anticipate a slow, but steady, recovery. Heiny said that is good news for everyone concerned and said she is glad she was in the right place at the right time. "The first instinct is you just do it and it's done," she said of not thinking twice about getting to the scene and lending assistance.  "That's a person in there."

( All photos courtesy of Escalon Fire. Story courtesy of the Escalon Times)