RIVERSIDE: Helicopter suffers hard landing during flight training, pilot reportedly ejected
RIVERSIDE — Officials are at the scene and investigating after a helicopter suffered a hard landing and reported ejection at Riverside Municipal Airport earlier this morning, Friday, Aug. 17.
The helicopter was on a training flight with a flight instructor and student when the air emergency happened, according to Riverside Police Department and Federal Aviation Administration officials. The impact ripped off the helicopter’s tail rotor and boom and sent the helicopter careening out of control, at which time the pilot was reportedly ejected from the spinning aircraft.
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The airport, located at 6951 Flight Rd, northeast of Van Buren Blvd. and Arlington Ave. in Riverside, is the site of several flight training schools, including Western Helicopters. FAA registration records indicate the 1980 Hughes 369D helicopter that crashed is owned by Helicopters Unlimited LLC out of La Crescenta. The four seat helicopter was first registered to Western Helicopters in October, 2012.
Fire and law enforcement personnel raced to the scene after a helicopter suffered a hard landing while on a training flight earlier this morning. City of Riverside Fire Department photo
Although details are still emerging and officials have released very few details about the incident, the hard landing caused the helicopter’s tail rotor and boom to rip apart and sent the blades and destroyed tail boom soaring through the air.
One of the helicopter’s main rotor blades was also torn off and thrown several hundred feet away, where it landed – outside the airport – mere feet from the front door of a business that sits adjacent the airport.
“Around 11 a.m. today, a helicopter was performing flight training autogyros when it hit hard at Riverside,” said Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Allen Kenitzer. There were two people on board the helicopter when it hit the ground, according to Kenitzer.
City of Riverside Police and Fire Departments, RMA Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting officials, American Medical Response, and other emergency personnel, raced to the scene after receiving reports of the hard landing.
When officials arrived they found a damaged, blue and silver helicopter upright and on its skids, near where the pilot had attempted to land. Tail and main rotor pieces were found several hundred feet from where the helicopter touched down and the helicopter’s tail boom showed heavy damage from impacting the ground.
Three of the helicopter’s four doors appeared to have been ripped from the copter and were found several feet away from where the aircraft came to rest on a dirt section near the airport’s helipad. Both of the helicopter’s lower front cockpit windows were also blown out by the impact. The aircraft’s headsets, flight paperwork, and other debris from inside the cockpit were also scattered about the area.
Although the pilot was reportedly ejected from the aircraft, Riverside Police Officer Ryan Railsback later said the victim was “up and walking around” after the hard landing and he was transported to an area hospital. According to witnesses, the other occupant was evaluated at the scene and declined further treatment.
The pilot was reportedly ejected when the helicopter’s tail rotor struck the tarmac, sending rotor blades and the copter’s tail boom soaring through the air. Steve Johnson/What is going on in Riverside County photo
No information about the nature or extent of the ejected pilot’s injuries was immediately available and it was not yet known if the helicopter was being flown by a flight instructor or pilot in training.
On their website, Western Helicopters explained that the type of training being conducted at the time of the incident, “is designed to save lives.”
“Western is unique in teaching precision auto-rotations to the ground – because they work,” the website continued. “Prepare for in-flight emergencies, and accomplish the most difficult maneuvers with ease, including auto-rotations by day and night. From tight 500′ orbits, or straight and level flights, when you need to ‘hit that spot’ right now and right there, you will have the skills to accomplish the maneuver.”
Evidence at the scene suggested the helicopter was attempting to land at the airport’s helipad H1, when the tail rotor struck the tarmac, causing the rotor to break into pieces and ripping the tail boom from the aircraft.
Steve Johnson of Facebook’s What is going on in Riverside County live streamed coverage of the crash from outside the secured fencing surrounding the airport to the group’s nearly 141,000 members, who regularly check his page for information related to all things Riverside County.
“It’s pretty scary, man…holy cow,” said Johnson, as he was filming from the scene of the hard landing.
According to Johnson, per witnesses who saw the crash, “the helicopter was seen to be coming in for a landing and as they were landing the helicopter, the back of it hit the ground and went into a spin.”
Officials remain at the scene of this morning’s hard landing and their crash investigation is continuing. Steve Johnson/What is going on in Riverside County photo
Area resident Jennifer Todd later said she had witnessed the crash, writing on social media she had watched the helicopter “practicing taking off and landing” over Harvest Christian Fellowship Church and that the hard landing “could have been a lot worse.”
“It didn’t seem very stable,” said Todd. “Thank goodness the blade didn’t hurt anyone. Pieces could have landed on Arlington Ave.”
As the crash investigation was getting underway, officials could be seen combing the area for evidence, taking measurements and photographs, and assessing the damage to the aircraft.
The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board have been notified and officials are en route to the scene to conduct a full investigation into the cause of the crash.
This is a developing story that will be updated as new information is available.
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SoCal Stringers video
Steve Johnson/What is going on in Riverside County video
Our @WesternHelis division provides flight training to primary and advanced #helicopter pilots. #WelkAviation #md500 PilotLife #aviation pic.twitter.com/thitsL5wUt
— Welk Aviation (@WelkAviation) June 10, 2017
Southern California Stringers (SoCal Stringers) – Los Angeles, Orange County, Inland Empire, Ventura County, San Diego stringer news provider agency.
Contact the writer: [email protected]
Trevor Montgomery, 47, recently moved to the Intermountain area of Shasta County from Riverside County and runs Riverside County News Source and Shasta County News Source. Additionally, he writes for several other news organizations; including Riverside County based newspapers, Valley News, The Valley Chronicle, and Anza Valley Outlook; as well as Bonsall/Fallbrook Village News in San Diego County and The Mountain Echo in Shasta County.
Trevor spent 10 years in the U.S. Army as an Orthopedic Specialist before joining the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department in 1998. He was medically retired after losing his leg, breaking his back, and suffering both spinal cord and brain injuries in an off-duty accident. (Click here to see segment of Discovery Channel documentary of Trevor’s accident.)
During his time with the sheriff’s department, Trevor worked at several different stations; including Robert Presley Detention Center, Southwest Station in Temecula, Hemet/Valle Vista Station, Ben Clark Public Safety Training Center, and Lake Elsinore Station; along with other locations.
Trevor’s assignments included Corrections, Patrol, DUI Enforcement, Boat and Personal Water-Craft based Lake Patrol, Off-Road Vehicle Enforcement, Problem Oriented Policing Team, and Personnel/Background Investigations. He finished his career while working as a Sex Crimes and Child Abuse Investigator and was a court-designated expert in child abuse and child sex-related crimes.
Trevor has been married for more than 28 years and was a foster parent to more than 60 children over 13 years. He is now an adoptive parent and his “fluid family” includes 13 children and 14 – but soon to be 16 – grandchildren.