A member of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office investigates the scene of a helicopter crash Sunday, Feb. 14, 2010 in Cave Creek, Ariz. Two adults and a child are dead after their helicopter crashed and caught fire in a wash in Cave Creek Sunday afternoon. (AP Photo/The Arizona Republic, David Kadlubowski)

BOB CHRISTIE,Associated Press Writer.

PHOENIX (AP) — Investigators are working to determine the cause of a fiery helicopter crash just north of Phoenix that killed at least three people, including a child.

The Eurocopter EC135 went down and burst into flames at about 3 p.m. MST Sunday in an area known as Cave Creek.

Authorities have confirmed three fatalities but no identities have been released. Deputy Lindsey Smith, a spokeswoman for the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, said that since since the chopper can hold six people, officials are looking into whether there were additional victims.

The helicopter was registered to Services Group of America in Scottsdale, Ariz., a large privately held foodservice and real estate firm.

The Seattle Times quoted company spokesman Brad Parker as saying that it was the private aircraft of SGA owner Thomas J. Stewart, who moved SGA’s headquarters from Seattle in 2006. But Parker said the company has received conflicting information on who was aboard.

Residents in the area heard noises and saw parts flying off the helicopter before it crashed.

“I saw the helicopter flying in the air and that stuff that goes round, up, the rotors were coming apart and then I said, ‘OK something wrong is gonna happen,’” witness Nicoleta Nork told KTVK-TV. “And I just saw it rolling, rolling and boom, then big smoke and yeah, terrible.”

The area is a mix of rolling hills, dry desert washes and lots of houses. The chopper came down in a wash between two homes, Smith said.

“It’s a pretty horrific crash,” she said. “It’s just obliterated.”

The debris scattered over hundreds of feet, and deputies were contacting nearby residents to make sure none were hurt and that all the debris was collected for use by investigators. No injuries on the ground were immediately reported.

Federal Aviation Administration were investigating, spokesman Ian Gregor said, and a National Transportation Safety Board investigator was expected to arrive on Monday morning.

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.

SAN CARLOS, Ariz. (AP) — A medical helicopter has crashed on Arizona’s San Carlos Indian reservation during a training flight and both people aboard were seriously injured, authorities said. There was no patient on the flight.

The pilot of the Eurocopter AS 350 lost control while trying to land at San Carlos’s Cutter airport around 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor told KSAZ Fox Channel 10 in Phoenix.

Both people aboard were hospitalized with serious injuries, Bureau of Indian Affairs spokesman Warren Youngman said.

The helicopter belonged to EMS transportation provider Native Air, according to a report on KPNX-TV in Phoenix.

A spokesman for Native Air’s parent company, Joel Hochhalter, said helicopter, which departed from Williams Gateway Airport, is for training only and is not configured for medical transportation.

Hochhalter added the pilots’ injuries were not life-threatening.

The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board would investigate the crash.

No other details were immediately available. Police on the San Carlos reservation refused to provide details and Associated Press calls to the FAA and BIA went unanswered early Thursday morning.

The San Carlos Apache Reservation is along U.S. 70 between Globe and Safford, in Gila County, about 60 miles east of Phoenix.

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Information from: KPNX-TV

Information from: KSAZ-TV

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.

Information from the Arizona Public Safety News Network

A spokesman for the Prescott Fire Department confirmed the fatalities.

The identities of the two victims aren’t immediately known.

Authorities
say the plane was registered to a Los Angeles resident, but it isn’t
immediately clear if that person was aboard the aircraft.

Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor says the single-engine plane had departed the airport for an unknown destination when it experienced “some kind of problem” and the pilot radioed the airport that he needed to return.

Gregor says the plane crashed short of a runaway about 2:50 p.m. MST.

Television footage showed the charred remains of the plane in a field next to one of the airport’s runways.