Helicopter crashes into suburban street during routine training drill
MMB-BK 117 plummeted into the street after taking off from a fire station in Hartford, which is about half an hour from St. Louis, Missouri.
A pilot and two passengers were on board when the helicopter fell from the sky just after 9 pm, the Federal Aviation Administration confirmed. All three were transported to a local hospital for their injuries.
Video footage captured by residents in the area depicts the helicopter taking off and seemingly clipping a tree before falling to the ground.
Additional video captured by witnesses show the helicopter engulfed in flames on the ground.
Before the crash, the Harford Fire Department warned residents on social media that ARCH, an air medical service based in Missouri and Illinois, would be conducting a training session in an empty lot.
'Please do not be alarmed. This is for training purposes only. If you would like to see the Helicopter up close, please DO NOT approach the Helicopter without authorization from ARCH,' the statement read.
'Helicopters can be Very Dangerous and this is one of the reasons for training,' the department added.
Video footage captured by residents in the area depicted the helicopter take off and then plummet to the ground after it seemingly clipped a tree
ARCH later announced that the Illinois crew was involved in the incident and the crash occurred after they departed from a local fire station.
'We continue to support our teammates and are working with the authorities in support of the investigation,' the statement read.
The shocking scene alarmed suburban residents in the area, who were quick to respond to the crash.
Ashley Quigley, who witnessed the event and told local Fox affiliate, KTVI, '[The helicopter] went up maybe a foot, it started hitting the trees, and stuff was flying.
'It was twisting all over, all of a sudden it came down with a big boom and started catching fire.'
'The fire truck came around and started trying to put it out. The fire went out a little bit, but then it started going back up in big smoke again, and they were just trying to grab the people who were on the ground, trying to help them,' she continued.
'It was literally the craziest thing I've ever seen.'
The FAA is currently investigating the incident with ARCH Air Methods, and local authorities are working to determine what led to the crash.
The three crew members survived but the extent of their injuries hasn't been released.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Reuters
5 days ago
- Reuters
FAA sees no mechanical issue with 787 Boeing fuel control unit after Air India crash
OSHKOSH, Wisconsin, July 24 (Reuters) - The head of the Federal Aviation Administration said Thursday the fatal crash of an Air India Boeing (BA.N), opens new tab 787 does not appear to be caused by a mechanical issue or inadvertent movement of the fuel control unit. "We can say with a high level of confidence is it doesn't appear to be a mechanical issue with the Boeing fuel control unit," Bedford told reporters on the sidelines of an air show, adding FAA employees have taken the units out, tested them and had inspectors get on aircraft and review them. "We feel very comfortable that this isn't an issue with inadvertent manipulation of fuel control."
The Independent
23-07-2025
- The Independent
Delta flight was traveling 60 mph down runway when AeroMéxico plane landed in front of it
A Delta flight was traveling 60 mph down a runway in Mexico City on Monday when an AeroMéxico plane landed in front of it. The Delta Air Lines Boeing 737 jet bound for Atlanta had to stop its takeoff and return to its terminal at Benito Juarez International Airport after an AeroMéxico Embraer 190 regional jet flew over the plane and landed in front of it on the same runway, according to multiple reports. FlightRadar24, a flight tracking site, showed the two aircraft about 200 feet apart, according to the reports. The Delta flight, which had 144 passengers and six crew members on board, departed to Atlanta about three hours late, CNN reported. Delta and AeroMéxico both said in separate statements obtained by ABC News the companies were cooperating with authorities as the incident is investigated. Both airlines said maintaining passenger safety was their number one priority. ABC reported on air traffic control recordings from the incident, in which the Delta pilot was reportedly heard saying, "We are holding on the runway.' Another voice can be heard in the recordings saying, 'Wow" and "Increíble." The Independent has reached out to the Federal Aviation Administration and Mexico's civil aviation agency for comment. Steve Ganyard, an ABC News aviation contributor and former fighter pilot, explained what could have gone wrong in the near collision. "There are parallel runways at Mexico City. So we don't know if the controller told the Aeromexico aircraft to land on the left-hand and not the right-hand runway where the Delta jet was," he said. The aviation expert continued: "We also don't know, perhaps the tower controller didn't understand that they had cleared the Aeromexico aircraft to land while simultaneously clearing the Delta jet to take off."
Telegraph
13-07-2025
- Telegraph
There are still unanswered questions about Air India flight 171
What happened to Air India flight 171? The Boeing 787 Dreamliner bound for London Gatwick crashed just seconds after taking off last month, killing 260 people. The weather was good, there was no bird strike and no obvious reason why the plane should lose power and plunge to the ground in the city of Ahmedabad. Air-accident investigators have now published an interim report that raises more questions than it answers. They claim to have found that the Dreamliner's fuel-control switches abruptly moved to the 'cut-off' position, starving the engines of fuel and triggering total power loss. Such a move is typically done only after landing. The report states that the cockpit voice recorder captured one pilot asking the other why he 'did the cut-off', to which the person replies that he didn't. Who said what to whom is not clear. To say this is not satisfactory is an understatement. Not only has it left the bereaved families of passengers, crew and those killed on the ground none the wiser, it has not removed concerns about a technical fault. Such a finding would clearly have huge implications for airlines. We are invited to infer that this was either a human error or a deliberate act. Unfortunately it would not be the first time a suicidal pilot has taken hundreds of innocent lives along with his own. But the report also reveals that in 2018, the US Federal Aviation Administration issued a Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin (SAIB) highlighting that some Boeing 737 fuel control switches were installed with the locking feature disengaged. While the issue was noted, it wasn't deemed an unsafe condition requiring an Airworthiness Directive (AD) – a legally enforceable regulation to correct unsafe conditions. The same switch design is used in Boeing 787-8 aircraft, including Air India's VT-ANB which crashed. As the SAIB was advisory, Air India did not perform the inspections. Investigators must follow up as a matter of urgency and not be side-tracked by suspicions of pilot error. It may well turn out to have been the latter, or worse; but the revelation that an advisory notice was issued about fuel switches is of concern whether or not it turns out to have been the cause of this particular crash. Routinely checking these switches should be made mandatory. Flying remains the safest form of travel but it relies on airlines and manufacturers taking all such issues seriously and responding openly. The trust of millions of passengers depends on it.
