Posted on 03/18/2014 8:31:24 AM PDT by llevrok
KOMO TV Seattle news helo crashes feet from studios. Ywo confirmed dead. One critical Live link http://www.komonews.com/live
Prayers to the families. Often these news choppers were flown by Vietnam Veteran pilots. I suppose now they’re flown by Gulf War Vets?
Not good.
Looks like it crashed near the intersection of Broad Street and John Street very close to the Space Needle and the Monorail rail.
Just terrible. :-(
appears to have lost power on take off. Witnesses in KOMO studio who hear helos take off and land many times a day say it didn’t sound normal.
Two dead but not yet confirming they were the crew (although likely as it went down nose first).
Live coverage.
http://www.kirotv.com/s/news/live-event/
http://www.king5.com/live-stream/pop-up-ads/Watch-live-now-116248999.html
And right next to the KOMO studios.
2 killed as KOMO News helicopter crashes beside Space Needle
http://www.komonews.com/news/local/News-helicopter-crashes-burns-beside-Space-Needle-250790281.html
Watch live.
http://www.komonews.com/live
Yeppers. Just to the NW of the building where the helipad is located.
It apparently struck the side of the building while on approach to the rooftop helipad.
Was taking off, not landing.
Often these news choppers were flown by Vietnam Veteran pilots.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
On occasion they were also flown by ‘disgraced’, former U2 pilots who didn’t drink their ‘Kool Aid’.
According to an eyewitness at KIRO (competitor station located nearby), they saw the chopper liftoff, but looked like it was having trouble. It then wen into a spin, then went over the side of the building and went down. Almost sounds like something went screwy with the tail rotor controls.
Either the tail rotor broke apart due to corrosion (or metal fatigue) or it made contact with the building.
KOMO says leaving, not approaching. But they do say the building was clipped. sounds like power failure on lift off.
KOMO on air preporting. doing a professional job under terrible circumstances.
Presser with SFD etc. coming up.
Looking at the video of the crash site, the tail rotor boom looked like it was with the rest of the fuselage. I could not tell if the actual rotor was still attached, but I’d guess it wasn’t. I’m guessing that if it hadn’t flown off the rotor assembly at the time of the accident, it may have broken apart at the moment it crashed.
One of the rotor blades, that is. Too soon to tell.
Probably pilot and photographer...these days, that’s the standard crew for one of those flights. Probably going up to cover traffic—big waste of time/resources; just one more way to “brand” the station with their fancy eye in the sky.
Phoenix has the right idea...they had a terrible mid-air between a couple of news choppers a few years back, all jockeying to cover the same story. A lot of news people (current and former) had been warning of that scenario for years. As I understand it, there is now one chopper, shared by all the Phoenix stations. Everyone gets the same pictures at the same time, so there’s less temptation to send the helicopter up on a pointless assignment, trying to beat the competition.
Rotary-wing aviation is always dangerous. It would be interesting to know if KOMO dispatched its chopper for something as trivial as the morning rush...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.