Two helicopters crash after Ford 400

scott121476 · Moderator

Two helicopters crash after Ford 400

scott121476 · Moderator

update at 9:48pm

1 copter was landing awhile the other one was taken off..... One pilot is hurt while another escaped injury and walked away from the accident

-- Edited by scott121476 at 21:51, 2005-11-20

scott121476 · Moderator

update at 10:04

Speedway officials confirmed at least one person was injured and none of those involved was a NASCAR competitor.

One of the helicopters was able to land in the helicopter landing area outside the track, an eyewitness said. The other up ended on on top of a recreational vehcile outside Turn 2. Medical personnel arrived at the scene about 9:10.

"There were two helicopters, and there was one above the other, and they both appeared to be coming down," eyewitness Jody Winnett of Melbourne, Fla. said. "The top helicopter's landing gear hit the rotors of the bottom helicopter.

"The top helicopter was able to land, and I saw that everybody was OK that was in that helicopter. The other helicopter slammed into the RV and exploded

scott121476 · Moderator

update at 10:14 from jayski

Two helicopters collided at the Homestead-Miami Speedway after the NASCAR championship Sunday, injuring one pilot, authorities said. One helicopter was taking off from the speedway's helipad shortly before 9 p.m. while another was attempting to land, said Miami-Dade Fire-Rescue Battalion Chief Richard Martin. "They had either a mid-air collision or a near-midair collision. One of them did a hard landing right on the helipad. No one on that craft was injured," Martin said. The other pilot was airlifted to a hospital, he said. Todd Shook, 46, of Sarasota, said he saw one helicopter's blades clip the body of the second helicopter as he was walking to his RV parked outside the speedway. One helicopter landed lopsided on the speedway's helipad, and the other crashed into an RV parked nearby, he said. "It just hit real hard, and then I saw the windshield all broken out. And the front of the RV is torn all to hell," Shook said. It was not immediately clear if the RV was occupied at the time of the crash

scott121476 · Moderator

update at 10:47 from speed tv

Two helicopters collided just outside Homestead-Miami Speedway Sunday night, with one crashing into a travel trailer. Initial reports were that there were no fatalities, but there was one person injured who was transported to a local hospital.

One of the helicopters belonged to Miami-Dade police, sources said. FAA and National Transportation Safety Board officials are on site and investigated, according to track officials.

this is great news....... although that we dont need to hear about the crash, but we dont need to have a loss of a driver or a crew member/s going into the offseason...... if theres more updates i will keep you posted

scott

openwheelracer · Admin/Mod/Eyewitness

From Jayski.com:

UPDATE: A pilot was killed after two helicopters crashed en route to pick up participants following Sunday's Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. One helicopter was taking off from the speedway's helipad shortly before 9 p.m. while another was attempting to land, Miami-Dade Fire-Rescue battalion chief Richard Martin told The Associated Press. The pilot died after being airlifted to a Miami hospital, a spokeswoman for the Miami-Dade Police Department said. The pilot's identity was being withheld pending family notification. Reed Sorenson, who finished 28th in the 400, was waiting to board one of the helicopters just prior to the crash. "I was the next one in line to go," Sorenson said. "I saw them hit. One went straight down and the other tried to land in the grass nearby. It took off part of his landing gear. I took off running because I thought parts were going everywhere. After seeing that, I don't think I'll ever fly a helicopter again." Speedway officials said only that the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating.(Atlanta Journal-Constitution)(11-21-2005)

spdracer19 · Pick-um contest administrator

My thoughts and prayers to the pilots family and may he rest in peace.

While it is never good to here about this type of thing at least the deaths and injuries were not worse than they were. This could have been much more devistating. Those who have been to a Cup race and seen the chopper traffic following a race know what I mean.

And cudos to Scott for his very fast reporting on this. Him & I were chatting on line around 9 PM Sunday night and he started informing me about this by 9:15. I could not find anything about it on CNN, Fox, ESPN or NASCAR.com but he was feeding me info from his sources and it proved very good info.

That type of no bull info (from many sources) is what puts this board laps ahead of the competition.

-- Edited by spdracer19 at 00:02, 2005-11-22