A Sacramento County sheriff's deputy who survived a helicopter crash that killed two of his fellow deputies is planning to make a "major donation" to benefit the Mercy San Juan Trauma Center this morning.

Eric Henrikson, 31, was the lone survivor in the July 13, 2005, helicopter crash near Lake Natoma. Deputies Joseph Kievernagel, 36, and Kevin Blount, 29, were killed when the helicopter slammed into a hillside and rolled down a ravine. The deputies were responding to a burglary call in Folsom.

Henrikson said he would announce the donation alongside his mother, Dee Wilkerson, Mercy San Juan President Brian Ivie and other hospital administration and staff at a 10 a.m. news conference at the medical center.

The amount of the donation will be made public at 10:30 a.m., said Bryan Gardner, a Mercy spokesman.

Henrikson asked that some of the funds be committed to specialized education for trauma nurses, with the remainder to benefit trauma areas with the greatest need.

"What they did for me was a miracle," Henrikson said in a written statement. "I know how committed the people at Mercy San Juan are to the Trauma Center and that they have an excellent program. But if something I can do can make it even a little better, then I want to be there for them the way they were there for me."

Last month, Henrikson, along with the families of the fallen deputies, settled their civil suit against the company that manufactured the helicopter's engine.

Turbomeca, a French manufacturer, was accused in the suit of supplying a defective part that reportedly caused the helicopter crash. The suit alleged that the company knew of the mechanical problem - a diaphragm in the engine's fuel control unit that had been installed incorrectly - but did not warn those flying the aircraft.

Sacramento County also filed suit against the company. That lawsuit is pending.