— A State Highway Patrol trooper left a patrol helicopter partly clamped to a transport vehicle last month, causing the aircraft to crash as it tried to take off, according to preliminary findings of the National Transportation Safety Board.

The helicopter was taking off from a Highway Patrol training facility on Garner Road on June 19 to take aerial photos near Raleigh-Durham International Airport, and the pilot began having difficulty controlling the aircraft when it was about 5 feet off the ground, authorities said.

The helicopter tilted to its side, and the rotor struck the ground. As the helicopter rolled onto its side, the tail boom broke off, authorities said.

The pilot, Trooper R.M. Collie, and passenger Clint Stone, assistant security director with the federal Transportation Security Administration and the Federal Air Marshal Service, suffered minor injuries in the crash.

According to the NTSB report, Collie pulled the helicopter from its hangar with an electronic/hydraulic transporter attached to the aircraft's skids. When it was on the helipad, Collie unhooked the left skid but forgot to unhook the right one after Stone distracted him with a request to remove controls from the co-pilot's seat, the report states.