Pilot in Fatal Copter Crash Released From Hospital
The pilot of the Los Angeles Fire Department helicopter that crashed in Griffith Park last week has been released from USC University Hospital, authorities said.
Steven L. Robinson, 32, was released Friday and is resting at his Agoura home after suffering a broken leg and a skull fracture in the crash that killed three firefighters and the 11-year-old girl they were transporting.
Another crew member, Dennis J. Silgen, may be released next week, a city Fire Department spokesman said.
The crash occurred the morning of March 23 on a wooded hillside near Los Feliz, just minutes after the helicopter had picked up Norma Vides to take her to nearby Childrens Hospital.
The Sun Valley girl had been seriously injured in a car wreck while being driven to school.
Investigators have not pinpointed the cause of the helicopter crash, but said in a preliminary report released Wednesday that a tiny crack in the aircraft’s tail assembly may have led to the disintegration of the tail rotor. Without the tail rotor, the helicopter apparently began spinning uncontrollably before spiraling to the ground.
Paramedics Michael A. Butler and Eric F. Reiner, and crew member Michael D. McComb, also died in the crash.
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