An Eagle man died while his daughter survived after this Enstrom 280F helicopter crashed near Succor Creek south of Adrian Friday. (Photo courtesy of the Malheur County Sheriff’s Office).
ADRIAN – When Malheur County Sheriff’s Office search and rescue team members found Jordan Valentine on Saturday morning, she could barely move.
The 25-year-old woman from Eagle, Idaho, lay beside the wreckage of an Enstrom 280F small helicopter on a secluded high desert hill south of Adrian. The crash, at about 4 p.m. Friday, killed her father, Jim Valentine, 52, also of Eagle, who was piloting the helicopter.
A hospital spokesperson confirmed that Jim Valentine had been a surgeon at St. Luke’s Medical Center for nearly 10 years. He specialized in bariatric and general surgery.
Despite serious injuries, Valentine managed to crawl out of the wreckage and then took shelter out of the wind next to the aircraft. She was wearing light clothing.
“She was beat up pretty bad,” said Travis Johnson, Malheur County undersheriff.
Johnson said the sheriff’s office received the call of an overdue helicopter around 2 a.m. Saturday. From there, the sheriff’s office activated its search and rescue team.
“We called people in and got a plan together,” said Johnson.
Johnson said the last radar contact on the helicopter was near Succor Creek.
The area is remote, said Johnson.
“The roads in that area are not great but luckily it was not far from one of those roads and it was out in a flat area where it was fairly visible,” said Johnson.
The search kicked off just before dawn. Around 8 a.m., search and rescue personnel sighted the wreckage near Top Reservoir, southeast of Succor Creek State Park.
“It takes a very tough and determined person to be able to survive a crash following by a long cold night,” said Johnson.
The temperature in the area dropped bellowing freezing.
Valentine was flown by LifeFlight to a Boise-area hospital around 9:30 a.m. Saturday
Eric Weiss, a spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board, said an investigator had been dispatched to the scene of the crash. He said the crash remains under investigation.
Jim Valentine was killed in a helicopter crash in Malheur County Saturday. Valentine was a surgeon at St. Luke’s Medical Center in Idaho. (Submitted photo)
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