Personal Injury Blog

Pilot Injured in El Segundo Helicopter Crash

August 20th, 2011
El Segundo Helicopter Crash

Firefighters from the El Segundo fire Department were able to put out the fire and rescue the pilot

A pilot was injured in El Segundo helicopter crash over the weekend. It was a miraculous escape for the pilot of a Sikorsky helicopter that crashed into a building.  He suffered fractures and a few other injuries, but is expected to recover.

The crash occurred at the Raytheon Plant.  According to news reports, the helicopter was lifting a large air-conditioning unit from the top of one of the buildings, when the pilot seems to have lost control of the helicopter.  According to witnesses, it looked like the cable on the helicopter caught onto something, and the helicopter went down.  Soon after, the helicopter exploded into flames.  Firefighters from the El Segundo fire Department were able to put out the fire and rescue the pilot.  He has suffered broken bones, fractures, cuts and burn injuries.  Fortunately, no other injuries were reported in this crash.

The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration have now begun an investigation into the crash.

Most helicopter crashes that Los Angeles personal injury lawyers come across can be traced to mechanical malfunctioning of the helicopter.  Any part of the helicopter including the engine or any of the components can fail, with tragic and devastating consequences.  Besides, several helicopter crashes occur every year because of faulty maintenance.  Maintenance is typically outsourced to an external aviation maintenance company, and as federal aviation safety authorities have discovered in recent years, standards at these companies have not been consistent.

Sometimes, helicopter crashes are the result of design and manufacturing defects.  There have been several Sikorsky helicopters that have been involved in crashes in the past and these crashes were traced to malfunctioning components of the helicopter.  Besides, helicopter crashes can also occur because of pilot error.  Inexperienced, unskilled pilots may not be able make the kind of emergency decisions that are necessary to prevent a crash.  Besides, an experienced pilot also lacks the skills necessary to be able to make a sound judgment about weather conditions and other factors that may impact the helicopter’s capacity to fly.

When it comes to helicopter safety regulations, helicopter operators, manufacturers and Los Angeles personal injury attorneys and others in the industry look to the Federal Aviation Administration, which is responsible for setting standards not just for aircraft design and manufacture, but also for the pilots of these aircraft.  In any helicopter crash lawsuit that is filed, the findings of the National Transportation Safety Board can be very important to the results of the case.  The National Transportation Safety Board does not get involved in every aviation safety incident that occurs inside the country.  But, the agency will get involved in almost every fatal crash involving commercial aircraft or helicopters, including medical helicopters.  The medical helicopter industry has been under special scrutiny over the past three years, because of a rising crash rate involving these helicopters.

 

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