Franklin Man Dies in Helicopter Crash in West Virginia

Marpat Aviation held its seventh annual Huey Reunion in Logan, West Virginia last week.

Attendees were given free rides on a vintage UH 1B helicopter used during the Vietnam War-era. The helicopter crashed on Wednesday, June 22 claiming the lives of six victims. One was Kevin Warren of Franklin, Tennessee, reports WVMetronews.com.

Warren was a Vanderbilt University professor. A statement was released from C. Cybele Raver, Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs about Warren’s death.

Dear Vanderbilt community members,

I am writing to share the tragic news that one of our faculty, Kevin Warren, Research Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering, passed away on Wednesday, June 22.

Kevin was a longtime member of the Vanderbilt community, having earned master’s degrees in chemistry and electrical engineering from the university as well as his doctorate in electrical engineering. Kevin began his employment with Vanderbilt as a Senior Research Engineer in 2003 and assumed his current faculty role in 2020.

Through his work in the Vanderbilt University Institute for Space and Defense Electronics, Kevin performed extensive research into the development and application of novel radiation effects related error rate prediction methods for microelectronics in terrestrial, atmospheric, and space environments. This a devastating loss for the Vanderbilt community and all those who knew Kevin.

The accident flight, the last flight of the day, departed Logan County Airport and crashed on a rural road about 3.7 miles northeast of the airport at about 4:57 pm EDT. National Transportation Safety Board stated, “much of the wreckage was consumed in a postcrash fire.”

Investigators have been on site documenting the site, the helicopter was not equipped with a voice recorder.

Marpat Aviation shared some history on the aircraft via its website, stating it was the oldest flying Huey in the world, was a troop carrier, medevac bird, National Guard aircraft, agricultural aircraft, and fire fighter. It also appeared in several movies including Die Hard, Under Siege: Dark Territory, The Rock, and Broken Arrow.