INVESTIGATORS SEEK CLUES IN COPTER CRASH; TEAM SCOURS AREA NEAR LITTLEROCK.

Byline: Charles F. Bostwick Daily News Staff Writer

National Transportation Safety Board investigators began the painstaking task Friday of determining what caused the helicopter crash that killed a retired businessman from La Canada Flintridge.

Saying it is too soon to offer a theory about the cause for the crash, investigators combed the ravine and hillsides for hundreds of feet around the crumpled Robinson R-22 helicopter, looking for bits of wreckage that might provide clues toward the cause.

``Right now we're disciplined about not drawing any conclusions. We just document. Later on, we take the facts we documented and try to make some sense of them,'' said NTSB air safety investigator Richard Parker.

A report on the cause of the crash is not likely to be released for six to eight months, Parker said.

The Los Angeles County Coroner's Office confirmed Friday that the dead pilot was Lynn Ansley Efting, 67, whose wife said he had flown airplanes for 40 years and helicopters for five years. Efting was retired as the manager and part owner of Builders' Supplies in Glendale.

Efting had left Thursday morning for a pleasure ride from Pacoima's Whiteman Airport to his hangar at a small airport in Adelanto, and was on his way back when he crashed, Susan Efting said.

A witness said he saw a rotor blade break off the helicopter before it spiraled down into the hills a mile south of Littlerock, coming to rest on its side in a ravine east of Littlerock Dam.

A four-wheel-drive crane was sent in Friday to haul out the wreckage, once the NTSB investigators were done with their work. A bulldozer had to grade a road leading to the hill above the crash site.

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PHOTO (1--2--Color) Air safety investigator Richard Parker, left, and Deputy Watson Lee examine the area around a helicopter that crashed near Littlerock, above. At right, crews search a wide swath of brush Friday looking for bits of wreckage.

Jeff Goldwater/Daily News