Authorities say a helicopter was on a photography flight in Hawaii Wednesday afternoon when it was forced to make a crash landing in the middle of busy downtown Honolulu.
According to ABC affiliate KITV , 30-year-old chopper pilot Julia Link and a photographer friend were flying over Honolulu at about 3:30 pm Wednesday taking photographs when the bird lost power.
“First I thought it was a joke,” Link told KITV . “Then, I was like: ‘Oh my God, this is for real’.”
Per reports, the aircraft plummeted to the street, landing close to a large apartment complex and Hawaii’s Pacific University — an area is usually full of students and office workers and has a lot of vehicle and pedestrian traffic.
Amazingly, no one on the street was injured in the crash.
“It’s a pretty miraculous situation that no one was badly hurt by this,” said Capt. Terry Seelig, a spokesman for the Honolulu Fire Department. “This is a pretty busy area.”
Link’s passenger, 71-year-old Karl Hedberg, was treated at the scene for minor injuries to his head. Despite the minor injury, Hedberg said he was grateful to be alive.
“I prayed before we went up and I figured, the Lord will take us down,” said Mr Hedberg. “We came in, we were skidding. I felt like we were at an amusement park.”
A preliminary investigation report by the Federal Aviation Administration indicated the chopper had an engine failure.
Here is a video on Wednsday’s Honolulu helicopter crash :
KITV reports the aircraft, a Robinson R22 Beta, was operated by Mauna Loa Helicopters. Representatives of the company couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
