[durt]

Video shows helicopter on fire prior to Florida crash



Video shows a Broward Sheriff's Office helicopter in distress moments before it crashed into a Pompano Beach, Fla., apartment building.

[kellyhound]

Update: A medical rescue helicopter caught fire and broke apart shortly after takeoff before crashing into an apartment complex near Fort Lauderdale, killing a paramedic captain on board and a resident on the ground, authorities said.

Two others on board and two other people at the apartment complex were injured.

Broward County Fire-Rescue Capt. T.J, 49, and a woman died when the Broward Sheriff's Office helicopter crashed through the complex's roof after taking off from Pompano Beach Airpark at about 8.45am, Sheriff Gregory Tony said.

He said the four injured were taken to the hospital and are expected to survive.

T.J. was a 19-year veteran of the department.

“He was a rock star. He was one of the best of us,” said Tony, who also oversees the county's fire department. “He bled this profession inside and out all day long.”

The injured firefighters are pilot Daron Roche, 37, and Mike Chaguaceda, 31.

The dead woman's name was not released as her family was being notified, Tony said.

The three-member crew was heading to an emergency medical rescue to take the patient to the hospital.

A video posted online shows flames coming from the midsection of the helicopter as it is trailed by a long plume of smoke. The helicopter then appears to break in half as it begins to spiral, plunging to the ground.

A video from another angle showed that the helicopter's blades were not turning rapidly.

Tony said that even as the crew members were declaring a mayday to the airport's control tower and trying to save their helicopter, they were also radioing paramedics at the medical emergency to let them know they would have to take the patient to the hospital.

“We are talking about the character of these men,” Tony said. “As they were fighting for their lives, they were thinking about somebody else.”

Witness Brian Piggott told that the helicopter began trailing smoke as soon as it took off. It then lost altitude and crashed.

Victoria Walczak, who was inside the apartment building, said the crash was louder than thunder.

“I thought a bomb went off,” she told the newspaper.

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash.

Original vids below

[Hogmann]

Watching this video I'm not sure that the helicopter crew knew they were on fire until the the tail boom severed and they started to go down. There's reports of them declaring an emergency over the radio but I have a suspicion that happened after the tail boom came off. If they knew they were on fire they should have landed immediately anywhere not continued to fly. Continuing the mission while on fire went to the breakup of the helicopter and it's crashing into an apartment building and killing one person on the ground. Accidents happen but I am a little perturbed by all the discussion by the fire department about these guys being real men of character. I think they may have made a mistake.

A video from another angle showed that the helicopter's blades were not turning rapidly.
I don't see that video posted here but because of the frame rate it's not uncommon for helicopter or propeller blades to appear to be spinning much slower than they actually are or not spinning at all.

[Trucked up]

Too bad we can't say this is in russia with poopin on board.

[William May]

Maybe Putin will die in a tragic rail accident with Kim Jong Un.