5 hospitalized after helicopter crashes in Huntington Beach, California

ABC News ^ | October 11, 2025 | Alyssa Pone, Gaby Vinick, and Ivan Pereira

[Red Badger]

Five people were injured and rushed to hospitals after a helicopter crashed in Huntington Beach, California, on Saturday.

The helicopter came down around 2 p.m. local time in a beach parking lot between Twin Dolphins Drive and Beach Boulevard, according to city officials.

Videos taken by bystanders showed the wreckage lodged in palm trees near a hotel.

Two people were pulled from the helicopter wreckage and three others on the ground were hurt, a city of Huntington Beach spokesperson said in a statement.

The victims were all taken to area hospitals in unknown conditions, the spokesperson said.

The city said in a news release the helicopter was associated with a "Cars and Copters" event scheduled for Sunday.

There's no word yet on a cause of the crash.

[Red Badger]

VIDEO AT LINK................

[Red Badger]

AVIATION PING!..................

[Red Badger]

Helicopter ping!...............

[Bon of Babble]

Usually when you hear about helicopter crashes it is “5 dead” not “5 injured.”

Glad they made it out alive and those involved on the ground were not killed.

[OldHarbor]

Chopped those palm trees like it was nothing.

[GingisK]

Helicopter. Isn’t that a machine with wings that go faster than the fuselage as it searches for a place to crash?

[Fiji Hill]

The helicopter came down around 2 p.m. local time in a beach parking lot between Twin Dolphins Drive and Beach Boulevard

I live about 20 miles to the north, two miles from Beach Blvd.--the same one.

[Red Badger]

Tail rotor came off.

Chopped those palm trees like it was a Weed-eater............

[Red Badger]

One doesn’t actually ‘fly’ a helicopter.

One just keeps it from crashing between landings...............

[TTFlyer]

Looks like tail rotor came apart.

[TexasGunLover]

Take your hands off the controls of a fixed wing and it keeps doing what it was doing... take your hands off the controls of a helicopter and it immediately starts doing everything it can to kill you.

[Harpotoo]

Lazor pointer ping?

[Airwinger]

Yeah, but when you need an immediate exfil, there ain’t no sweeter sound.........

[Red Badger]

Nope, bad maintenance ping................Tail rotor came off

[Red Badger]

The ‘Little Jesus Nut’..................

[Samurai_Jack]

so, the question is whether the tail rotor clipped those palm branches before departing from the aircraft.

[TexasGunLover]

so, the question is whether the tail rotor clipped those palm branches before departing from the aircraft.

There have been a lot of different videos from different angles and the ones I watched did not look like it was in contact with the palms... It had just finished some high G, high-speed maneuvers and at that moment, would have been at high RPM coming into a hover like that...

[Deo volente]

If I had ever wanted to take a ride in a helicopter, that little question was settled after watching the video. No, no, and never!

[redfreedom]

Tired helicopter joke:

What’s the purpose of the tail rotor?

It keeps the pilot cool. For when it comes off he starts to sweat.

As a kid in the Army I had more helicopter rides than I can remember. My favorite was a Slick (UH-1) auto rotation and running landing with a full load of troops. That free fall separates the men from the boys. So does that skidding along during the running landing.

[Red Badger]

Last helicopter I rode in had two rotors and a ramp in the back......Seats were a little uncomfortable, though............