Phoenix, AZ — ABC News is reporting that two men were hospitalized on Wednesday after a privately owned helicopter crashed between two residential homes in central Phoenix around noon.
According to the report, the copter, a Hughes 269C with a cockpit capacity of 600 pound, crashed under unknown circumstances.
The two injured passengers, ages 40 and 58, were reported in stable condition at the time of this writing. No one was injured on the ground, according to authorities.
Several witnesses recalled that the craft sounded like it was experiencing engine problems shortly before it went down.
Scott Chapin, who lived next-door to one of the two homes that were damaged in the helicopter crash, said he heard the aircraft hitting his neighbor’s house and ran outside, where he saw the wreckage sticking up.
Chapin admitted to the Arizona Republic that he first thought it was a tree trimmer’s boom or a piece of construction machinery that had hit power lines above the home.
“But then that didn’t make any sense, because the rotor was still going around making an incredibly weird noise, a very ear-deafening noise,” Chapin said. “So I knew it was something else, but it did not dawn on me that it was a helicopter because that’s such a rare thing to happen in the middle of a Wednesday.”
According to Ian Gregor, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration, the National Transportation Safety Board will head up the investigation into the cause of the crash.
Fox News writes that the downed aircraft was registered to Canyon State Aero – a helicopter flight training company in the Phoenix suburb of Gilbert.
ABC15 has more on the 2012 Phoenix helicopter crash — including footage from the crashsite — the video below: via ABC News
