[kellyhound]

Tragedy struck at McClellan-Palomar Airport in Carlsbad, California, as a helicopter pilot and his friend lost their lives when their chopper spiraled out of control and ignited upon landing, according to official reports.

The pilot was identified as Bruce Allen Erickson, aged 65, hailing from Rancho Santa Fe, while his passenger was identified as Wayne Frank Lewis, aged 60, from Cardiff by the Sea. Both individuals were tragically pronounced dead at the accident site.

Authorities disclosed that the ill-fated flight was engaged in landing practice when the helicopter's tail made contact with the ground. Shocking video footage captured the AS350 AStar helicopter touching down on the runway at 4:20 p.m. on Wednesday. As the rotor blades continued to spin, the chopper began a disorienting and prolonged spin that lasted over a minute before the tail section separated, and smoke engulfed the aircraft.

Eyewitness accounts describe the helicopter continuing its spinning motion for an additional five minutes until it eventually came to a halt, with both occupants onboard tragically losing their lives.

In response to the incident, McClellan-Palomar Airport, situated at 2198 Palomar Airport Road, was temporarily closed. Subsequently, airport officials announced its reopening for helicopter operations, but the runway remained closed pending further investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

A helicopter instructor familiar with the pilot mentioned that the individual was relatively new to flying helicopters. The crash occurred as the pilot attempted to land on a helicopter landing cart, which is used for towing aircraft into hangars. Landing incorrectly on such a cart can lead to catastrophic consequences.

One witness noted the unusual fact that the helicopter's engine remained at full throttle during the incident, raising questions about why this happened. Additionally, the presence of a gasoline-like odor in the air indicated that the helicopter likely did not run out of fuel.

[Neo1130]

I was thinking two things.

1) How the hell do you stop that
and
2) Hope it doesn't hit that refueling truck!

[SalemSaberhagen]

I hope they died very quickly because think of all the nausea from all that spinning around. Wasn't there some sort of thing that could have been used to stop it? Lastly there was an awful lot of fire and smoke in the second last clip, I would have thought, being an airport, that fire crew would have been on top of it a lot LOT quicker.

[durt]

"Flying helicopters, what seemed odd is that the engine was still wide open it was traveling so they didn't turn the throttle off. Why that happened is beyond me," said a witness.

Witness doesn't know shit about helicopters, probably the same dick that was taking the video, instead of grabbing a fire extinguisher

[bigmikeymike]

From what I understand, often times the flight instructors are new graduates from the schools. And I would imagine they died early on. Assuming the pilots didn't die immediately they would have been able to turn the engines off.

This kind of stuff is why I got out of the aviation industry, specifically rotary wing. Death traps when in the right hands.

[badassbaldbastard]

Shit went bad in a hurry.

[dwizzy22]

Is that a HA-420 Honda jet I see there!

[Kelseecat65]

That was crazy how fast things got out of control. Damn. I never realized how dangerous landing a landing can be.

[FNAL]

Originally Posted by durt ↗

"Flying helicopters, what seemed odd is that the engine was still wide open it was traveling so they didn't turn the throttle off. Why that happened is beyond me," said a witness.

Witness doesn't know shit about helicopters, probably the same dick that was taking the video, instead of grabbing a fire extinguisher

Yeah, it's funny to hear their explanations of the events.

Maybe both pilots got knocked out and weren't able to reduce the collective. Then the bitch just tore herself apart.

[FNAL]

Originally Posted by dwizzy22 ↗

Is that a HA-420 Honda jet I see there!

Negative, that is a Cessna 525 Citation CJ1+.