A family faced their biggest fear after their innovative father flew his homemade helicopter into the sky.
On Friday morning Vincent Faber, 70, took off on his ‘home-built type’ Scorpion 133 Helicopter, but around 8am the chopper crashed and killed the beloved father in Andale, Kansas.
At the time of the crash his kids were visiting him, but instead of spending time with him, they were left to plan his funeral.
Vincent’s son Jeremey Faber said that his father loved nothing more than to build and fix things himself- especially his helicopter.
Although his creative passion made him happy, Vincent’s family always feared it would put him in harm’s way.
‘Shocked, I was always worried about it; I’d always go out there to make sure he was parked,’ Jeremy told KSNW.
The Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office and Sedgwick County Fire responded to the fatal crash on the 5700 block of N. 255th St. West.
Vincent’s sister, Patsy Faber, said she was ‘shocked’ over his death and she couldn’t stomach visiting the crash scene.
‘I have not been out there. I’m afraid to go to the site,’ Patsy said.
Brittany Trotter, a Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman, told News-Press Now that Vincent’s specific chopper is a small aircraft that can be bought in a kit for owners to assemble themselves.
The manufacturer of the chopper, RotorWay, the ‘largest kit helicopter company in the world’, no longer makes the Scorpion 133 helicopter.
From 1972 to 1984, the company sold about 5,000 kits. It is unclear exactly why RotorWay decided to stop producing the specific chopper.
The aircraft is allowed to be flown at a number of sites, fits in most garages, is lightweight and does not need to be flown out of an airport, according to the American Helicopter Museum.
It is unclear what exactly caused Vincent’s chopper to crash. The National Transportation Safety Board is currently investigating.
The agency is expected to release a preliminary report on the tragic accident in about 30 days, with a final report set to come out in 12-14 months.
Jeremey said that more than anything his late father loved to work on his helicopter.
‘Always working on something, his hobby was his helicopter,’ he said.
Eugene Faber, Vincent’s brother, took to Facebook and posted a heartfelt tribute to him.
‘I just thought I would let everyone know that knew my brother, Vince Faber that he died the morning of July 5th in a helicopter accident near his home.
‘He had a kit built Scorpion helicopter that he built and was learning to fly it. The news said that there may have been engine problems.
‘I haven’t talked to his son or daughter yet. I know that there are people on here that knew Vince and went to school with him. I don’t know anything else at this time,’ Eugene said.
In January, an experimental plane pilot and three others were killed after the homemade plane crashed into California’s Half Moon Bay.
The pilot, n Lochie Ferrier, died alongside his venture capitalist fiancée, Cassidy Petit, Willmer-Shile, and Isaaz Zimmern, the son of wealthy Zoom executive Johann Zimmern.
Ferrier was known in the ‘experimental aircraft’ community and had graduated from MIT in 2019 with an aeronautical engineering degree.
He worked at Beta Technologies – an electric plane company.
He moved to California to work at Magpie Aviation in Hayward, which specializes in electric aircraft.