Helicopter Crashes; Pilot Sent To Hospital
DUNDALK, Md. -- A small helicopter slipped off the back of a flatbed truck and slammed into the ground as the pilot was attempting to land at the Dundalk Marine Terminal Wednesday afternoon, authorities said.
The unidentified pilot was able to free himself from the wreckage and was taken to Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries, said Richard Scher, a spokesman for the Maryland Port Administration.
No one else was on board and no one on the ground was injured, Scher said.
"It wasn't like the helicopter dropped right out of the sky," he said. "It was trying to land and got very close to landing."
As the pilot attempted to land on the flatbed he apparently lost control and part of the landing gear slipped off the truck. The helicopter spun and then fell to the ground, Scher said.
The Dundalk Marine Terminal is part of the Port of Baltimore and the helicopter was intended as cargo on a ship bound for Sweden on Thursday, Scher said.
Maryland Transportation Authority police stand by whenever a helicopter intended as cargo lands at the terminal and they were able to respond immediately to the 2:30 p.m. crash, he said.
The Robinson R-44 Raven II helicopter was registered to Somerset Aviation in Bel Alton.
The National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the crash, a spokesman for the agency said.
Television images showed the helicopter sitting on the pavement.
The undercarriage was mangled, and the tail rotor had snapped off, but the cockpit did not appear to have sustained much damage.
from WBAL,
link here.