Authorities said it appears as if Tayag may have saved some lives by making diversionary moves to avoid hitting traffic on the highway.
“The WBTV family is grieving a terrible loss. Our news helicopter Sky3 crashed mid-day Tuesday with two of our colleagues on board. Meteorologist Jason Myers and pilot Chip Tayag lost their lives. We are working to comfort their families in this difficult time. We appreciate the outpouring of support for our staff and your continued prayers for their families,” WBTV said in a statement.
In 1998, then-WBT Traffic Reporter Steve Counts was doing an aerial report for John Hancock when the single engine Cessna he was traveling in suffered engine failure. Counts also served as a WBT Radio news reporter from early 2020 until August 2021.
On Tuesday, Counts told the “The Brett Winterble Show” that he didn’t realize the magnitude of what he was about to go through.
“At first, I didn’t know what the problem was, I just noticed that the engine wasn’t making as much noise as it was supposed to and the aircraft didn’t have that vibration it had when the engine was on,” Counts said.
Counts recalled how he finished his traffic report with Hancock and then switched over to the intercom with the pilot who was communicating with the airport while preparing for an emergency landing.
“So, we’re flying at 2,000 feet, maybe a little below, so we had about four minutes to think about things,” Counts added. “So, we had a little time to look at our surroundings, decide where we wanted to put the aircraft down and think about the possible outcomes of putting the plane down.”
Counts said the plane came crashing to the ground in a neighborhood and was stopped by a drainage ditch. Fortunately, there were no injuries that day.
“We were lucky, and I can’t explain it,” he added.
