DESTIN — The back end of a helicopter on a tourism flight broke off Saturday afternoon when the pilot made an emergency landing in a sand pit behind the Days Inn.
None of the three people onboard were injured, Destin Fire Batallion Chief Mike Urenda said.
The cause of the crash was likely mechanical.
The back end of the helicopter broke off and the propeller was damaged. The fuselage remained in tact and the pilot and passengers were able to exit through the helicopter doors.
A small pile of torn metal pieces from the tail were collected from the sand placed next to the helicopter in an empty parking lot after the aircraft was pulled from the sandpit later Saturday afternoon.
"She (the pilot) actually set it down very easily," a Sheriff's Office deputy who was at the scene later Saturday afternoon.
The helicopter did not catch fire, but some fluids leaked out that had to be cleaned up, Urenda said.
The aircraft, owned by Timberview Helicopters, flies out of the Destin Airport and was taking two people on a commercial sightseeing trip, according to officials with the Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office and the fire department.
“The people were a little shaken up, but that's it,” Urenda said. “I would be, too.”
The Sheriff's Office contacted the National Transportation Safety Board, but officials declined to come to the site of the crash because there were no injuries. They released the aircraft back to the owner.
Ben Welborn, of Mobile, was staying with a friend at the Days Inn and stood on the balcony surveying the wreckage later Saturday afternoon. Both work offshore and have attended extensive helicopter training, he said.
"It appears to be a textbook emergency landing," Welborn said. "As bad as it was, it was handled properly and professionally for nobody to get hurt. The main unit was in tact, it didn't land in the water, it didn't hit a condo. I think the pilot did the job and did it well."
Source: http://www.nwfdailynews.com
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