Monday, March 23, 2015

1 PILOT, 2 PASSENGERS DEAD IN COLLEGE PARK, FLORIDA HELICOPTER CRASH AND FIRE INTO A GUEST HOUSE













MARCH 23, 2015

ORLANDO, FLORIDA

The identities of three people killed Sunday in a College Park helicopter crash have been released.

Pilot Bruce Teitelbaum, his wife Marsha Khan and passenger Harry Anderson died in the crash, officials with the city of Orlando said Monday morning.

The helicopter crashed into the guest house of a home on Alameda Street.
"It was not the explosion you would've expected of a crash of a helicopter or an airplane," said neighbor Donn Carr.

The pilot had requested to head back to the airport, saying, "Helicopter 242 exec, requesting a return back to HQ. Helicopter 242 proceed back in bound on the downtown arrival."

Moments later, the Robinson R-44 helicopter came crashing down into a neighbor's home.

"The impact was a very solid, 'Boom!' and then dead silent," said Carr.
Officials said the helicopter took off from Orlando Executive Airport, but have not reported who was flying or where it was going.

Police said it is too early to tell what may have caused the crash.
"It just came right over our house, very, very low. I was in the office, my wife was in the back," Carr said.

A neighbor told Channel 9 the helicopter's rotor landed in the backyard of another home and knocked down part of a fence. Some residents lost power after the crash.

"I said, 'OK, we've got a really bad problem on our hands,'" said Carr.
Investigators said no one was in the guest house behind the home at the time of the crash.

The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Administration are investigating the accident.