Pilot, Instructor Unhurt in Crash of Helicopter
A student pilot and his instructor escaped injury when a helicopter was set off balance as its tail touched the ground Wednesday while it was coming in for a landing. It crashed just short of an airport runway.
The student pilot was trying to land the BH-57 helicopter shortly before 2:30 p.m. when it crashed at Brackett Field Airport in La Verne, about 32 miles east of Los Angeles, Police Sgt. Paul Allen said.
The helicopter was approaching a runway on the southeast side of the airport when its tail dipped to the ground.
The contact set the copter off balance and it crashed about 1,500 feet short of the runway, Allen said.
The novice pilot and his instructor were not named.
The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the cause of the crash. An FAA spokesman said the copter suffered substantial damage.
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