Eyewitness News
Heli-USA Helicopter Back in Service
-- If you were watching Eyewitness News Thursday night, you saw our exclusive coverage of an emergency helicopter landing at McCarran Airport's Executive Terminal. People are still talking about it Friday.
It's a pretty common site to see touring helicopters -- and even news helicopters buzzing through the Las Vegas skies. And we know Thursday night's emergency landing of a Heli-USA aircraft captured a lot of attention. The tricky landing was necessary because of a problem with the tail rotor. Eyewitness News has learned that the helicopter that made numerous passes before skidding to a stop -- is already was back in service Friday.
The president of Heli-USA, Nigel Turner, says that it's back to business as usual for his company. Turner says that there is no investigation being conducted on the incident. This has been confirmed by the National Transportation Safety Board. In the meantime, the pilot is being applauded by his company, and peers, for conducting a perfect emergency landing.
Over at Silver State Helicopter school, pilots say the skid stop is something they practice routinely. "This pilot, he maneuvered everything perfectly. Everything he did was unquestionably the right maneuver," said Jerry Airola of Silver State Helicopters.
So what do the experts think of the pilot's performance Thursday night? Jerry Airola, Silver State Helicopters, said, "A-plus!" The company president says he's looking forward to getting past this incident.