OKLAHOMA CITY — A state representative and her daughter walked away from a helicopter crash late Saturday afternoon, after the aircraft crashed into the banks of the Red River.
Rep. Tammy Townley (R-Ardmore) said she and her daughter, Victoria, were hunting feral hogs about 3:30 Saturday afternoon via a helicopter along Red River when the craft began to fall from the sky. Townley said the helicopter was flying “a little above treetop level.
“We’d only been up about 30 minutes,” she said. “They (the helicopter company) had taken one group up and we were the next group. Tory and I had just started shooting when the pilot sudden said we had lost lift.”
Townley said she and her daughter were each hanging outside the helicopter when it crashed along the river. Townley said the pilot was able to maintain control until it made impact.
The helicopter was “completely destroyed,” Townley said.
“Our pilot was amazing,” she said. “He did everything he could. He got us down safely. All four of us walked away with no serious injuries.”
Townley confirmed she suffered a broken wrist from the accident and said her daughter may have injured her knee.
The helicopter crashed in a marsh-like area along the Red River. Townley said her daughter freed herself from the wreckage and went back inside to help her and another woman who could not free themselves.
Victoria Townley, a music teacher at Ardmore’s Plainview Elementary School, said she, too, was shaken up from the crash but that her first thoughts were about her mother. “Whenever your mom – who is your best friend – is trapped, I mean, I’m gonna go back in there and do everything I can to get her out. I wouldn’t have done anything else.”
Oklahomans have been using helicopters to hunt feral hogs for a decade. The hogs have long been a problem in the state, destroying millions of dollars in crops and livestock annually. In 2013, state lawmakers passed legislation that allowed feral hogs to be hunted via helicopter. Today, several companies offer hog hunting packages. Nationwide, damage from feral hogs is estimated to be more than $1 billion.
Rep. Townley said hunting the animals via helicopter had long been an item on her bucket list. She said she invited her daughter to join her.
“She asked me if I wanted to go and I said yes, absolutely,” Victoria Townley said.
Rep. Townley, chair of the House Tourism Committee, was first elected to the House in 2018, prior to her election she served as Deputy County Clerk in Carter County. She also serves on the Conference Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, the House Government Modernization and Technology Committee, the House Energy and Natural Resources Committee and the Conference Committee on Government Modernization and Technology.
Both Townley and her daughter were taken to an Ardmore hospital for treatment.
“We’re very grateful to everyone who helped us and to God who protected us,” she said. “We are very blessed.”