Houston helicopter crash leads to 4 dead after faulty lights on radio tower which were not working correctly for some days would have led to the chopper pilot not seeing the structure against the Houston horizon as the private charter navigated the evening sky.
A helicopter crashed into a radio tower in Houston, Sunday night, leading to four people on board being killed, including a child, Texas fire officials said.
The fiery crash took place in Houston’s second ward near Engelke Street and North Ennis Street just before 8pm Sunday, knocking down the tower.
The privately owned R44 helicopter crashed in Houston’s Second Ward, with videos showing a huge blaze spreading around 600 feet on the ground.
🇺🇲 USA ▪️ Helicopter carrying 5± people crashed into a radio tower in Houston, Texas. No survivors. Pilots were briefed by the FAA, that some of the tower lights hasn’t been working since October 16th (10/20) pic.twitter.com/RxZhTt8bP1
— Breaking News 🗞️ (@AEagle98704) October 21, 2024
Radio tower lights were faulty
The crash follows the aircraft departing from Ellington Airport some minutes earlier that evening. Not immediately clear is where the helicopter was heading.
Houston Police Chief Noe Diaz said that four victims were on the privately-owned touring helicopter, including the child. The crash was believed to be an ‘accident.’
The identities of the victims have yet to be released, but police confirmed a child was one of the four killed, without giving an age. All four were on the chopper, with no injuries reported on the ground.
Diaz noted that victims’ families still have to be notified before they can release their identities.
Officials made a macabre request of nearby residents, asking them to look for both fallen helicopter parts and human remains when they wake up in the morning.
He also said that the investigation will likely take some time and multiple agencies due to its size.
‘It will be a large investigation because of the expanse of the accident,’ the official said.
Of note, a social media post stated pilots were briefed by the FAA, that some of the tower lights hasn’t been working since October 16th (10/20). A report via KHOU11 confirmed that the radio tower lights were inoperable leading to the pilot on the chopper ‘likely’ not seeing the building infrastructure flying into the evening.
#UPDATE #Houston #Texas #HelicopterCrash New security video shows the #Helicopter flying then it impacts the antenna. The exact time according to the footage was at 19:51:19 local time. #Houston #MayorJohnWhitmire confirmed there were four fatalities in this incident, including a… pic.twitter.com/6ZfFV9les0
— SLCScanner (@SLCScanner) October 21, 2024
Who managed radio tower facilities?
Reitreated a report via ABC13: ‘… the aviation obstruction lights at the top of a radio tower hit by a helicopter in a deadly crash in Houston’s Second Ward have a history of not working.’
Adding, ‘… the aviation obstruction lighting — the red flashing lights at the top of the tower — are often out.
‘With the background of downtown Houston behind the tower coming up from the south, Don said the tower would be almost impossible to see unless you knew it was there.’
In the surveillance video, it appeared at least one light on the tower was on, though it’s unclear if the lights were in full working order.
Not immediately clear is which agency bore responsibility for making sure lights along the radio tower were to be operable and why the structure was left un-attended.
Officials said that both National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration had begun investigating.
Authorities say that it appears no one on the ground was killed or hurt from the crash.
Whitmire believes it will take several days to clean up from the crash. The scene has been blocked off from the public.
‘This is a tragic event tonight, it’s a tragic loss of life,’ Whitmire added.
He added that the entire city is lucky the crash wasn’t even worse, as there is a butane tank nearby.
‘We saw this bright light flying toward the church,’ said Marco Perez, who was at an outdoor concert nearby.
‘That light turned into an orange red fireball,’ he told the Houston Chronicle.
Perez and his grandson said that the metal that fell to the ground resembled ‘spaghetti.’
The fire – which burned about 100-200 yards of grass in the immediate area – was put out by around 9:30pm local time, though some homes in the area remained without power, according to CNN.
