Ten years ago this month, John Cooper, Brad Piccolo and Ben Han were recovering from broken bones, cracked vertebrae and heart problems, injuries suffered when the helicopter they were riding in struck a power line and crashed upside down in the Cimarron River near Cushing.

They were lucky to survive. The pilot and front passenger didn’t.

The core members of the Payne County band the Red Dirt Rangers, Cooper, Piccolo and Han are self-employed musicians and didn’t have insurance at the time. And once they recovered from the accident, pre-existing conditions caused by the wreck hindered the trio from getting medical coverage.

“What you find out is, insurance for musicians is, when they get hurt, their friends throw benefits for them. I mean, that’s it. That’s all they got. Most musicians haven’t been insurable. They can’t afford to pay it,” Cooper said during a recent interview at the Hart Building on Film Row.