Investigator: No immediate clues in Florida helicopter crash

PALM BAY, Fla. (AP) - An investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board says he has no early clues as to what caused a helicopter crash in Palm Bay that left three people dead.

Robert Gretz, a senior air safety investigator for the federal agency, said the older model, military-style helicopter was on a post-maintenance test flight when it went down Tuesday.

He said at a news conference Wednesday that a piece of equipment that controls the helicopter's forward and backward movements had recently been repaired, but that also doesn't indicate what happened.

Gretz says the helicopter had left Orlando Melbourne International Airport and was returning there when it crashed. The helicopter was fully engulfed in flames when rescuers arrived. The blaze was contained within ten minutes.

Those killed were not immediately identified.