Tragic Helicopter Crash Claims Life of Prominent New York Businessman

In a shock­ing turn of events, a wealthy New York busi­ness­man, Gary John­son, lost his life in a heli­copter crash on July 27, 2024. 

The 65-year-old from Carthage was at the con­trols of his pri­vate Schweiz­er 269C heli­copter when dis­as­ter struck just 15 min­utes into his flight.

The Shocking Cause of the Crash

Inves­ti­ga­tors have revealed the sur­pris­ing rea­son behind the air­craft mal­func­tion that led to the crash.

A nest of mud dauber wasps had built their home inside the heli­copter’s gas tank vent tube, caus­ing a block­age that led to the engine “sput­ter­ing” and the chop­per plum­met­ing from the sky.

The Nation­al Trans­porta­tion Safe­ty Board­’s report, released on August 2, stat­ed that while the fuel tank con­tained 11 gal­lons of fuel, it “flowed sporadically…consistent with a lack of venting.” 

Fur­ther exam­i­na­tion of the vent tube revealed the pres­ence of a mud dauber nest, which was con­firmed to be the cul­prit behind the trag­ic incident.

The Tragic Aftermath

The heli­copter crashed into a marsh from a height of 50 feet, leav­ing John­son with seri­ous injuries. He was rushed to Carthage Area Hos­pi­tal, where he was lat­er pro­nounced dead. 

The crash occurred behind a com­mer­cial prop­er­ty he was devel­op­ing, about 70 miles north­east of Syracuse.

John­son, a promi­nent local fig­ure, owned and oper­at­ed a gas sta­tion and auto-repair shop in Carthage since 1976. 

He also owned sev­er­al rental prop­er­ties and was in the midst of remod­el­ing the Sahara Restau­rant in Wilna with his daugh­ter. His sud­den pass­ing has left a void in the com­mu­ni­ty he had served for decades.