Iowan identified as chopper pilot who died in crash

A Missouri sheriff has confirmed it was an Iowa man who died in a helicopter crash in central Missouri Wednesday near Boonville, Missouri. Cooper County Sheriff Paul Milne says Gregory DeJong of New Sharon, Iowa was the only person on board the copter when it was found yesterday.He says it appears that DeJong was killed on impact. The Missouri Highway Patrol says De Jong’s wife reported him missing around 11 o’clock Wednesday evening after he’d waited in Boonville for poor weather to pass. Milne says it looks like the weather was to blame for the crash.He says they’re assuming that it was weather-related, but he says that has not been confirmed and there are federal inspectors on site investigating the wreckage. Milne says his department has turned the investigation over to the National Transportation Safety Board. He says his office’s function was to find the downed copter, and secure the area until federal investigators arrived. DeJong was the vice president of the family-owned DeJong Manufacturing — a metal fabrication business in New Sharon.