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Tag: helicopter crash

  • BREAKING: 2 Die In Helicopter Crash – Seattle

    This morning in Seattle, WA, at least two people were killed when a news helicopter crashed in downtown Seattle near the popular tourist area by the Space Needle, local news reported.

    When emergency crew responders arrived at the scene of the crash, they found two people dead, the Seattle Fire Department said on its Twitter page.

    Local television station KOMO, an ABC affiliate, said the fallen aircraft was one of its news helicopters.

    “KOMO chopper crash appears to have taken lives of our colleagues on board,” Keith Eldridge, a reporter and anchor with the station, said on his Twitter page.

    From the KOMO website, photos reveal flames and smoke coming from the cars near the scene. Video news footage after the fire had been extinguished showed charred vehicles with their windows blown out and fire retardant foam in the street.

    A 37-year-old man who crawled out of one car was transported in critical condition to a local hospital, the Seattle Police Department said on its Twitter page. Three cars were set on fire, police said.

    The helicopter went down on Broad Street, close to the famous Seattle Space Needle, KOMO said on their website.

    The Space Needle is a highly populated tourist attraction, and hosts a children’s museum and Pacific Science Center, among other attractions.

    Witness Chris McColgan, 26, told the Seattle Times the helicopter appeared to have fallen from the helipad at the top of the KOMO building, the paper reported on its website.

    “The engine made a pretty deep noise … and about two seconds after that I heard the boom,” witness Daniel Gonzalez told KOMO.

    Image via Twitter, Seattle Fire Dept

  • Elle Macpherson Is No Longer Being Sued

    The $100 million wrongful death lawsuit against Elle Macpherson’s husband, Jeffrey Soffer owner of the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach, was suddenly dropped from a Miami court on Tuesday. The billionaire was being sued by Lance Valdez’s widow, Dasha. Valdez, a prominent tax attorney, was a passenger in Soffer’s helicopter when it crashed on November 2012 in the Bahamas.

    The lawsuit made claim that Soffer was piloting the helicopter during the fatal crash and did not tell his passengers that he did not have a proper pilot’s license. Mrs. Valdez brought the suit because she believed that Soffer tried to cover up the fact that he was in control of the helicopter, and that he convinced a pilot by the name of David Pearce to say that he was the one piloting at the time of the crash.

    Mrs. Valdez received a $2 million insurance settlement from her husband’s death. Elle Macpherson was also named in the lawsuit because the widow claimed that she was pressured by her to take the insurance settlement instead of pursuing legal action. Valdez also accused the former Australian supermodel of trying to cover for her husband and lying about who was piloting the aircraft at the time of the crash.

    It is unclear why Mrs. Valdez’s lawyer dropped the suit, however, sources told the The New York Post that the two sides did not reach a settlement and that Soffer was ready to fight the lawsuit in court. “Jeff was preparing to respond to, and deny, the allegations. Before he could, the suit was voluntarily withdrawn without warning.”

    Soffer’s laywer said that he was not surprised by the withdrawal and that the lawsuit was “riddled with factual errors and unfounded accusations.” However, just because Mrs. Valdez dropped the suit last week does not mean she cannot refile on a later date.

    Soffer and four other passengers survived the helicopter crash. Mr. Valdez was the only casualty in the accident.

    Image via Wikipedia Commons

  • Indonesia Helicopter Crash Kills 13

    Indonesia Helicopter Crash Kills 13

    A helicopter crashed and exploded on Saturday, in the jungles of Borneo Island in Indonesia, killing 13 people. Six more were injured, after the aircraft carrying construction workers ran into a cliff, while attempting to land at a work site near the Malaysian border. Rescue crews flew in today to retrieve the bodies.

    Bad weather had hindered initial rescue attempts, though crews were able to mobilize later in the day. The crash occurred on a remote cliff side in the Malinau district in the North Kalimantan province, and rescuers, primarily military search and rescue agency personnel, brought mountaineering equipment to the wreckage.

    While black box data has yet to be examined, officials suspect that poor weather conditions and a problem with the rear rotor blades caused the Russian-built Mi-17 chopper to go down. The craft appeared to spin out of control, directly before colliding with the rock wall, and an official investigation concerning the crash will commence as soon as the bodies are evacuated.

    Military spokesman Legowo Jatmiko said in a statement, “It’s bright and sunny now and rescuers said they did not face much of a problem. We believe we will be able to evacuate all the bodies today and airlift them to Tarakan,” a town in northern Borneo.

    President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono expressed his “deep sorrow” at the deaths, and tweeted, “Hopefully the families of the soldiers and other victims will find fortitude in the face of this tragedy.”

    Borneo is the third largest island in the world, and the largest island of Asia. The island is divided among three countries – Brunei and Malaysia on the north, and Indonesia to the south, and many exotic species inhabit its verdant jungles, including the elusive Sumatran rhinoceros.

    Of those killed in the crash, eight were civilian construction workers, and five were military personnel. Six survivors are being treated for burns in hospitals.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons.

  • Fatal Medical Helicopter Crash in Tennessee

    Early on Tuesday morning, October 22, 2013, at approximately 6:20AM, a medical helicopter crashed in southwestern Tennessee near Somerville, about halfway between Memphis and the crew’s destination of Bolivar. The horrific crash killed the pilot and two Memphis children’s hospital workers, as they were on their way to pick up a boy who was in renal failure. He was located at a hospital in Bolivar, and planned to be transported to Memphis Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital.

    The boy was then taken by ambulance, after officials found out about the crash. They began searching when the helicopter’s crew members did not respond during a routine 10-minute check-in. According to Meri Armour, President and CEO of the hospital, the helicopter was cleared for weather and fight plans. Sadly, it never reached its destination.

    Tuesday’s fatal crash was Hospital Wing’s second crash in approximately three years. Hospital Wing is a non-profit air medical transport that provides services in West Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Alabama, and Kentucky. In March 2010, a Hospital Wing helicopter crash killed three individuals, when the pilot attempted to outrun a storm.

    According to Bill Conway, CEO of Hospital Wing, the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) are currently investigating what caused the crash. “It saddens me more than you can know. All three of these crew members were personal friends of mine,” he said.

    According to Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital, the deceased include a pilot and two hospital workers. 43-year old Carrie Barlow worked as a registered nurse for thirteen years, lived in Halls with her husband, Keith, and raised three children. 43-year old Denise Adams worked as a respiratory nurse for eight years, lived in Arlington with her husband, Rodney, and raised three children. 47-year old Charles Smith, was a pilot who began his career in 2012 after twenty-five years serving for the aviation unit of the Memphis Police Department, who lived in Eads with his wife, Chi, and two sons.

    “They have taken care of so many kids in their short lives…I can’t tell you how incredibly difficult it is for the entire team,” said Dr. Jay Pershad, medical doctor of Pedi-Flite, Le Bonheur’s air transport program. The staff members of Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital go on more than 400 helicopter flights a year and is the only pediatric transport service offered within a 130-mile radius.

    According to statistics provided by NTSB, there was one fatal helicopter emergency medical services crash in the years 2011 and 2012 throughout the United States. In 2013, there have been five fatal crashes, including Tuesday’s crash, that have killed a total of twelve people.

    “It’s going to take quite a while to get to the bottom of everything,” said Ralph Hicks, NTSB investigator. A preliminary report is to be expected within the next week, but a final report could take more than a year to be produced.

    A celebration of remembrance is occurring on Tuesday, October 29, 2013, at 10:00AM at Hope Presbyterian Church, 8500 Walnut Grove Road, Cordova.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Helicopter: River Landing Comes After Power Loss

    A helicopter was forced to make a crash landing in the Hudson River over the weekend after power loss shut down the engines.

    According to The New York Times, a charter tour helicopter carrying four tourists from Sweden had to make a crash landing in the water on Sunday and, thanks to quick thinking on the pilot’s part and quick action by nearby boaters, no one was seriously injured. Sebastian Berthelet, who was out on the water for the day with his family, grabbed a dinghy and helped rescue those inside.

    “In the beginning we thought it was an exercise, just a helicopter trying to land in the water,” Berthelet said. “When we saw the floaters we thought maybe that’s just practice. But when it hit the water, it hit hard.”

    The young pilot, 23-year old Mike Campbell, shrugged off praise and said he was just doing his job, but officials said it would have been a lot worse had he made even a slightly different decision.

    “The pilot did a terrific job, considering he lost his engine power, and landed his ship safely,” FDNY Deputy Chief Thomas McKavanagh said at scene. “He was able to get this helicopter to land upright and with minimal impact.”

    The aircraft belongs to New York Helicopter and was towed to the West 79th Street Boat Basin after the crash; it will eventually be moved to the Wall Street Heliport.

  • EagleMed Crash Kills 1, Prompts Questions

    EagleMed Crash Kills 1, Prompts Questions

    A medical helicopter crash killed a patient and injured a medical worker on Tuesday near Tulsa, Oklahoma.

    According to Choctaw Nation Health Services, an investigation into the crash and the safety record of EagleMed, the company that owned the helicopter, is now underway. EagleMed is a medical transport company that operates around 20 different locations throughout the midwestern U.S.

    The helicopter crashed on Tuesday night, less than 100 feet away from Choctaw Nation Healthcare Center (CNHCC) near Talihina, Oklahoma, where it had taken off from on the way to Tulsa. Though hospital emergency workers were nearby to treat the passengers, 49-year-old Michael Wilson, the patient on the flight, died. One member of the flight crew was critically injured, and was taken to a trauma center in Tulsa. The two other members of the crew were not seriously injured.

    “Our staff responded extremely well to this unfortunate tragedy”, said Teresa Jackson, CNHCC CEO. “We engaged our disaster plan within moments of the accident, and the response from our staff as well as the local and state emergency personnel in the area was outstanding.”

    The cause of the crash has yet to be determined, though the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), Choctaw Nation law enforcement officials, and an Eagle Med safety team are all currently investigating the incident.

    EagleMed has expressed its thanks to well-wishers during what it calls a “difficult time.”

    (image)

    EagleMed LLC1 day ago

    Thank you for the thoughts, prayers and concern for our crew at EagleMed.McAlester. Your support and love brings us comfort in this difficult time. Those planning to attend the 10th Anniversary event scheduled at EagleMed6.Tahlequah today, the event has been post-poned until further notice. Powered by socialditto(image)  90 likes ·  9 comments

    According to Tulsa’s KXII news station, this is the third EagleMed helicopter to have crashed in just the state of Oklahoma since 2010.

  • School Helicopter Crash In Parking Lot Kills 3

    A medical helicopter crashed into an elementary school parking lot in Kentucky on Thursday night, killing three people on board. Witnesses in the area say there was heavy fog at the time, which may have contributed to the accident.

    “We are devastated at the loss of these crew members who we consider family,” Air Evac Lifeteam said in a statement. “We have no details regarding the cause of the accident but will be working with the NTSB in coming days as they conduct their investigation.”

    The victims have been identified as pilot Eddie Sizemore, flight paramedic Herman “Lee” Dobbs and flight nurse Jesse Jones, who were on their way back to Manchester–about 90 miles south of WebProNews offices in Lexington–after transporting a patient to London, Kentucky.

    An investigation is ongoing.

    Click here to see more images of the wreckage.