Tail rotor of helicopter that made emergency landing in Whitemarsh Township, Pennsylvania, found nearby
Investigators in Whitemarsh Township, Pennsylvania, are just beginning the process of trying to determine what caused a medical helicopter to plummet from the sky Monday evening. The helicopter took off from Penn Presbyterian Medical Center en route to Wings Field in Blue Bell for refueling before picking up a patient at Chester County Hospital.
It never made it to its destination because, according to Flightradar24, five minutes after departing, the helicopter dropped more than 1,000 feet in the span of a minute before falling off the radar.
Miraculously, the pilot landed the helicopter, a Eurocopter BK 117, in the front lawn of a residential property in Whitemarsh Township. All three crew members on board survived, and no one on the ground was injured.
Investigators in Whitemarsh Township are just beginning to determine what caused a medical helicopter to make an emergency landing Monday night.
CBS News Philadelphia
There's been a lot of speculation surrounding the helicopter's tail rotor as a possible failure that could have caused the emergency landing because neighbors told CBS News Philadelphia the tail rotor was found at a different location, a short distance from where the helicopter made that emergency landing.
Longtime aviation attorney and pilot Arthur Wolk told CBS News Philadelphia that if a helicopter loses its tail rotor, aka the anti-torque rotor, which is an extremely rare occurrence, it becomes an immediate crisis for the pilot.
"So basically, what you have to do is reduce the torque, try to land the helicopter as quickly as possible, and he obviously did it pretty well because it looks pretty good to me," Wolk said.
FAA records show the helicopter was built in 1997. Wolk says aircraft logbooks could show whether this could have been a metal fatigue failure or a maintenance problem.
"He did the right thing, which is to put it on the ground immediately," Wolk said. "No worries that there are other places to go. If there's a spot that's big enough for the helicopter to land on, whether it's somebody's front lawn or if there's a golf course below, wherever it is, you want to get it down as quickly as possible."
The NTSB and FAA are investigating and the NTSB is expected to release a preliminary report in 30 days.
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