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GREEN RIVER, Emery County — A helicopter crash that killed two Utah men last year was likely caused by a number of factors, including contaminated aviation fuel, according to federal investigators.
Robin Francis Venuti, of Washington, Washington County, was piloting a Robinson R22 helicopter when it crashed on April 6, 2014, in a mountainous area near the Emery County-Grand County line. Venuti, 38, and his brother-in-law, Albert Munoz Rubio, 36, of Beaver, died in the crash.
Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board — in a recently released report that outlined the probable causes of the crash — said the helicopter experienced "a loss of engine power due to fuel contamination while maneuvering at a low altitude." The report also cited the pilot's "inadequate preflight inspection, which failed to detect the contamination" as a contributing factor.
Fuel recovered from the wreckage was contaminated with water, according to the NTSB report. There was also water in the fuel cans Venuti routinely used to fill up his helicopter, investigators wrote.
"Friends of the pilot indicated that he kept a barrel of aviation fuel outside of a building on private property," the report states. "He would pump fuel from the barrel into five-gallon plastic cans, which he in turn used to fill the helicopter."
One of the cans contained a mix of about 50 percent aviation fuel and 50 percent water while another had a mix of about 85 percent aviation fuel and 15 percent water, the report states.
Family members told investigators the men were using the helicopter to hunt for shed elk antlers along the Green River corridor when the crash happened.
"In order to spot antlers, the pilot was likely maneuvering at a low altitude; therefore, he had little time to react to a loss of engine power or locate a suitable landing site in the rough terrain," the report states.
