Newport Beach Helicopter Crash: 3 Dead After Chopper Falls On Home

A helicopter crashed into a Newport Beach home in California on Tuesday leaving three people dead and two injured. The fatalities were confirmed by Fire Chief Chip Duncan from the Newport Fire Department.

According to Newport Beach Police department spokeswoman Jennifer Manzella, out of the five, four were onboard while one was a pedestrian, Los Angeles Times reported. It is still unclear who among them was killed and who was injured.

Reports stated the two injured persons were taken to a trauma center after the incident for treatment. The helicopter struck a single-family home on Shearwater Place in the Bayview Terrace community, Newport Beach just before 2:20 p.m. local time (5:20 p.m. EST).

CBS News reported that the residents of the house were home at the time of the crash, but none of them were injured. One of the witnesses at the scene, Paddi Faubion was inside her house when the incident took place.

Faubion said she heard the helicopter propellers struggling to turn and heard the aircraft slowly losing its power. "It was like a train hitting a wall. You just knew something horrible had happened," she said.

She also added that a woman was present in the kitchen when the helicopter crashed into her house and damaged the bedroom.

"She was inconsolable. I just put my hands on the side of the helicopter and prayed,” Faubion said.

Reports state that several neighbors rushed to the crash site after the incident in order to help the ones affected. Two neighbors reportedly pulled out the pilot from the aircraft who looked extremely pale with a bloodied mouth. Neighbors said that the scene of the crash was quite chaotic and something that they have never experienced in the quiet community before.

According to a news report, there was no fire reported after the accident but a lot of gasoline was spilled on the streets. The helicopter involved in the crash was a Robinson R44 owned by Revolution Aviation, a company based in Santa Ana, a city in Orange County, California. Revolution Aviation has been offering pilot training and sightseeing trips since the 1960s.

Eric Spitzer of Spitzer Helicopter Leasing confirmed the news that he had leased the R44 to Revolution Aviation. "I'm shocked because it just came out of getting updated avionics a week ago, I paid the bill."

He said the flight school and touring company had been leasing his helicopter since April 2016 and that the firm had been flying it regularly. "Revolution is spectacular. The minute just a little thing goes wrong, they're on it."

Spitzer added that out of the four passengers who were onboard, one was the pilot and the other was probably his friend who owns the aviation company.

R44 was reportedly manufactured in 2003 by the Robinson Helicopter Co., based in Torrance, a city in the South Bay region of Los Angeles County, California. The company's two-seat R22 and four-seat R44 were considered among the most popular civilian helicopters in the world.