ASK 10: What happened to the helicopter that crashed into Crater Lake?

PROSPECT, Ore. — News 10 viewer wrote in asking, "Is the helicopter that crashed into Crater Lake with 2 people on board still in the lake?"

News 10's Holden LeCroy reached out to park officials about the incident which occurred on September 23, 1995.

A company-owned helicopter was carrying two passengers, pilot George W. Causey, 52, of Enumclaw, Wash., and Edward Tulleners Jr., 45, of West Linn and was traveling to a convention in Las Vegas when it crashed and sank almost 1,500 feet into the lake. Causey and Tulleners' bodies have not been recovered to this day.

Federal law requires any owners of crashed aircraft to recover the wreck from federal land and the company paid more than $100,000 to the National Park Service.

Marsha McCabe, a spokesperson for Crater Lake National Park, sent News 10 a statement saying, "part of the money went toward a survey of the bottom of the lake in 2000 and no helicopter pieces were seen in the imaging."

Following that survey, it is assumed by park officials that the helicopter was obliterated on impact and pieces were scattered across the bottom of the lake.

For now, the park has decided to close the case considering any more recovery efforts would not be worth the cost of resources considering no further environmental impacts are expected.

The worst environmental impact of the crash already occurred when nearly 70-gallons of jet fuel were released into the lake on impact back in 1995. That jet fuel has already dispersed.

At this point, any leftover pieces of the helicopter pose no threat to Crater Lake's ecosystem.

If you've got questions, email us at ask10@ktvl.com and we'll do our best to get them answered each Thursday on News 10 at 6pm.