Pilot Frank Gomes, Jr. killed in helicopter crash near Salinas, California

SALINAS, Calif. (AP) Authorities say a pilot was killed when a helicopter crashed while crop dusting a field in Central California. The aircraft was registered to Gomes Farm Air Service, and the company said the pilot was co-owner Frank Gomes, Jr. Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Allen Kenitzer said the Bell 47 helicopter went down near Salinas Saturday morning. The airport's manager, Brett Godown, told the Salinas Californian he saw workers maintaining the aircraft Saturday morning and called the Air Service "a very safe operation." The company operates out of Salinas Municipal Airport.

SALINAS, Calif. (AP) - Authorities say a pilot was killed when a helicopter crashed while crop dusting a field in Central California. The aircraft was registered to Gomes Farm Air Service, and the company said the pilot was co-owner Frank Gomes, Jr. Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Allen Kenitzer said the Bell 47 helicopter went down near Salinas Saturday morning. The airport's manager, Brett Godown, told the Salinas Californian (http://bit.ly/1GzrjWX ) he saw workers maintaining the aircraft Saturday morning and called the Air Service "a very safe operation." The company operates out of Salinas Municipal Airport.

SALINAS (CBS SF) '€” A pilot with 41 years of experience died in a helicopter crash west of Salinas on Saturday, his sister said Monday. He had about five minutes left to finish the job and a quick moving cloud came through the area before the crash, according to Bellone. Frank Gomes Jr., 67, was flying a helicopter that was spraying product over a romaine lettuce field off of Blanco Road near a riverside where the aircraft crashed, Gomes'€™ younger sister Christine Bellone said. Gomes was the sole occupant of a Bell 47 helicopter when it crashed into a field, according to Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Allen Kenitzer. He'€™s really going to be missed,'€ Bellone said. '€œAnybody you talk to will just say nothing but kind things about him,'€ she said.