Helicopter crash near Phoenix kills all on board
A Sea King helicopter from HMS Gannet fly though the Hidden Valley in Glen Coe while on patrol March 24, 2007 in Ayr, Scotland.The crew are based at Prestwick airport in Southwest Scotland, and provide a 24-hour military and civilian search and rescue service across a large area of Scotland.
A helicopter crash 73 miles north of Phoenix left no survivers on Saturday, while authorities seek more information on the fate of the privately-owned UH1 model helicopter.
The helicopter appears to have crashed near Interstate 17 around noon near the small town of Mayer, Arizona, and quickly burst into flames and black smoke.
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Two nearby target shooters were witnesses to the crash, wrote ABC15.com. “And I looked up, and it was almost like the helicopter was at a standstill, almost wasn't moving," said Soto. And I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, look at that.’ And then my brother looked up and he was like, ‘Whoa.’ And the next thing we knew, it turned over and took a nose dive straight down.”
The helicopter appears to be leased to a Phoenix owner, Sheriff's spokesman Dwight D'Evelyn said to UPI, adding that it remains unclear how many people were involved in the accident.
The deadly crash was the second in recent weeks in Arizona: on August 28th, a helicopter made a hard landing near Payson, injuring the pilot and leaving five passengers unharmed.
Although helicopters have remarkable utility, accidents do happen, as this latest Arizona incident has highlighted. A 2012 survey from HeliHub.com found a total of 133 fatal helicopter accidents leading to 420 deaths in 2012.