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Multiple injuries reported as helicopter crashes into house in Newport Beach

By ABC7.com staff
Updated 8 mins ago

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. (KABC) --

At least five people were injured when a helicopter crashed into a house in Newport Beach Tuesday afternoon, officials said.

The crash was reported just before 2 p.m. in the area of Egret Court, about a block from the beach.

The fire department says there were believed to be five people on board the aircraft and they were all reported to be unconscious at the scene when firefighters arrived.

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Helicopter Crashes In Newport Beach
A helicopter has crashed in Newport Beach near Bristol Street: BREAKING

By Ashley Ludwig, Patch Staff | Jan 30, 2018 5:16 pm ET | Updated Jan 30, 2018 5:23 pm ET

NEWPORT BEACH, CA — A helicopter has crashed in the area of Bristol Street and Bayview Place, the Newport Beach Police Department has reported. Officials on scene have reported that a small helicopter crashed into a home on Egret Court in Newport Beach at approximately 1:50 p.m. Emergency responders from Newport Beach Fire have responded to the scene.

"There are two trauma patients, and one was still inside the aircraft," Newport Beach Fire officials told Patch. All are reported conscious. At the time of this report it is unclear how the helicopter crashed, or if anyone was home at the time of the crash.

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Word is that the owner of Revolution was PIC

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"I put my hand on the back of the helicopter and started praying over them. Because I knew at that point there weren't any survivors."

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Authorities ID 3 Killed in Helicopter Crash Into Newport Beach Home

Posted 10:10 AM, January 31, 2018, by Anthony Kurzweil and Lauren Lyster, Updated at 10:26AM, January 31, 2018

Authorities have released the names of the three victims who died when a helicopter crashed into a Newport Beach home Tuesday afternoon.

Joseph Anthony Tena, 60, of Newport Beach and Kimberly Lynne Watzman, 45, of Santa Monica were initially identified by the Orange County Sheriff's Department on Twitter Wednesday.

The third victim, Brian R. Reichelt, 56, of Hollywood, Florida, was identified a short time later in a second tweet.

The Robinson 44 helicopter they were aboard crashed under unknown circumstances into a home at the corner of Shearwater Place and Egret Court about 1:45 p.m.

The aircraft had departed from John Wayne Airport on its way to Catalina when it crashed shortly after take-off, said National Transportation Safety Board Senior Investigator Joshua Cawthra.

A total of five people were involved in the crash, including four aboard the helicopter and one bystander on the ground.

The pilot and two passengers were killed in the crash, Cawthra said.

A third passenger aboard the helicopter was seriously injured.

Orange County Global Medical Center received a patient from the crash scene, spokesman Jeff Corless confirmed.

The patient is being treated and is in critical, but stable condition, Corless said.

The person injured on the ground had minor injuries, and was treated and released from a local hospital, Cawthra said.

Federal Aviation Administration and NTSB officials are investigating the cause of the crash and were combing through the wreckage Wednesday for clues.

Cawthra said no distress call was ever made from the helicopter prior to it going down.

The aircraft is owned by Spitzer Helicopter and was under lease to Revolution Aviation, which offers flight training and tours, according to its website.

However, investigators have determined this flight was not part of a class or sightseeing tour, Cawthra said.

A probable cause report from the NTSB typically takes months if not more than a year to be completed, FAA Public Affairs Manager Ian Gregor said.

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Watzman was the manager of The Standard Hotel on the Sunset Strip, where Reichelt was also an employee, the company confirmed. They were on their way to Catalina Island Tuesday when the helicopter crashed.

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David Henry, who lives a couple houses away from the crash site, said he heard the helicopter coming down and knew what it was because he crashed in three separate choppers when he served in Vietnam.

Henry was among those who initially tried to pull victims from the crash but thought better of it.

“They were just jammed in there like sardines,” Henry said. “We were pulling back the aluminum and we said, ‘We’d have to pull them up out of there’ and we could hear the paramedics coming.

“So we said, ‘We’re not going to touch them,'” he said. “We were afraid of hurting them worse.”

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