At least 3 killed as helicopter crashes into house in Newport Beach
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. -- At least three people were killed and two injured when a helicopter crashed into a house in Newport Beach Tuesday afternoon, officials said.
The crash was reported around 1:45 p.m. at Egret Court and Shearwater Place, about a block from the beach.
The aircraft struck the yard and wall of the home. A piece of the tail rotor was seen lodged in the tiled roof of a home across the street.
The Robinson R44 light helicopter normally seats four people. Newport Beach police said there were four people on the aircraft and one on the ground who was also apparently struck by some debris from the crash.
PHOTOS: Deadly helicopter crash in Newport Beach
The helicopter is based out of John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana, which is only about a mile from the crash site. The helicopter's manufacturer, Robinson Helicopter Co. is based in Torrance. The operator is Santa Ana-based Revolution Aviation.
Witness accounts and skid marks and debris indicate the aircraft's rotor may have first struck the roof of the other house as it was coming down, then hit the ground and skidded into the front wall of the home.
A woman who lives in the neighborhood heard the crash and ran outside to witness the immediate aftermath.
"I thought it was falling on my home," she told Eyewitness News. "It was just this intense loud noise. It sounded like a train coming through."
She ran outside and saw a chaotic and gruesome sight.
"I put my hand on the back of the helicopter and started praying over them. Because I knew at that point there weren't any survivors."
She said she knows the people who live in the home where the helicopter crashed. They were home at the time, but in a back room and were not injured, she said.
Officials are still investigating the cause of the crash.
