Couple's quick actions help save pilot from fiery helicopter crash

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A road trip to a southern Ontario music festival turned into a life-or-death rescue when a Windsor couple witnessed a helicopter nosedive into a field.

It was their swift actions, and lending a helping hand with two other bystanders, that saw a young pilot pulled out and brought to safety moments before the wreck erupted in flames.

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“The whole thing happened really quickly,” Anthony Difazio told the Star.

“If none of us would’ve shown up, he (the pilot) probably would have died or suffered extreme burns.”

Difazio and SeMonde Snauwaert were driving to Electric Eclectics music festival in Meaford, Ont., last Friday, Aug. 1, when they noticed a helicopter flying unusually low over rural Middlesex County, then disappear behind a row of cornfields.

As they continued driving, they noticed the helicopter had gone down and spotted the aircraft in a nearby wheat field. They immediately contacted 911 before running toward the wreckage.

“We were listening to music at the time, so we weren’t able to hear it,” said Difazio .

“I just remember seeing it go up, do a quick turn, and then just go down. Then I’m like — ‘Oh, my God, I think it just hit.'”

By the time they reached the scene, two men had already managed to pull the pilot from the heavily damaged aircraft.

Difazio said the pilot, who appeared to be in his early 20s, was conscious.

“When I first realized that the helicopter had crashed, I was hit with a wave of disbelief,” said Snauwaert.

“Growing up in the county, I’ve driven through farmland my whole life. The county roads are very plain. There’s not much going on.

“So when we’re in the middle of nowhere, like three hours away from our hometown, you know, to have such an intense and random accident happen right in front of you was, I mean, so shocking.”

She said the group was worried that the helicopter, which was already beginning to emit smoke, could ignite given the concoction of fuel and crop spray it was carrying.

“We were all really scared that it was going to catch flame really quickly or possibly blow up,” said Snauwaert.

“The helicopter itself was completely mangled … the situation was very uncertain, because we didn’t really know what we were dealing with, in terms of how dangerous the helicopter could get.”

The group decided to drag the pilot further away from the wreck.

Minutes later, the helicopter was fully engulfed in flames.

“It caught pretty quickly, and it just kept getting bigger and bigger,” said Snauwaert. “The smoke was thick and black.”

When emergency crews arrived, Snauwaert and Difazio lingered at the field’s edge a little while longer. A photo they snapped from their car shows an ominous column of black smoke rising above the flat farmland.

They eventually continued on north to Meaford, on the Georgian Bay shoreline, where they spent the rest of the weekend camping and enjoying the festival’s artistic and musical performances.

“We kind of just kept driving in a very trance-shock state,” said Snauwaert.

“We couldn’t believe what just happened. Obviously, I mean, grateful all around that the pilot was safe. We were all safe. In the situation, it was the best-case scenario for all the people involved.

“Obviously, the helicopter didn’t make it, but I think we just had an overwhelming sense of gratitude for everybody’s safety, but also just disbelief that we were part of that situation and that we are able to help.”

mmazak@postmedia.com