2nd Survivor of Copter Crash Leaves Hospital

Resting in his wheelchair, his left leg encased in plaster and bandages up to his hip, Phil Arno smiled at the late afternoon sun and proclaimed it a beautiful day.

The 50-year-old Chatsworth cameraman hadn’t been outside since he was injured in a March 26 helicopter crash at Van Nuys Airport while covering the Academy Awards for KTTV-TV Channel 11. He was released Tuesday from Northridge Hospital Medical Center.

“Just to feel the warmth of being outside is really a welcome feeling,” Arno said as he left the hospital with his wife, Mary, at his side. The ordeal began as Arno and pilot Kris Kelley were hovering over the Shrine Auditorium in an Aerospatiale chopper after the Oscars, as celebrities headed for waiting limousines.

Suddenly, Arno recalled, the aircraft began spiraling toward the ground.

“The tail was spinning around the nose,” he said. “I didn’t think we would recover from that.”

But Kelley righted the helicopter and guided it on a 15-mile trip back to Van Nuys Airport, escorted by two choppers from rival TV stations. Before it could land, the disabled aircraft slammed into the asphalt at the airport and burst into flames.

The National Transportation Safety Board released a preliminary report last week that noted Kelley chose to return to her Van Nuys base after losing hydraulic pressure, even though Santa Monica Airport was only five miles away. Officials are still investigating the crash, said George Petterson, NTSB chief air safety investigator.

Arno and Kelley were rescued from the fiery wreckage by a two-man news crew working for “Entertainment Tonight,” and an airport police officer.

Arno said he remembers lying in a pool of fuel, struggling to free himself from the debris before being dragged from the wreckage. He suffered a badly shattered lower leg and a concussion. It could take up to 14 months for his leg to heal, he said.

Doctors “had to align everything like a jigsaw puzzle,” he said, describing how his shin and calf bones were crushed into about 32 fragments. “It looks like I crashed into a Home Depot, with all the screws and nuts and bolts in there.”

Kelley, 33, of Thousand Oaks suffered arm, leg and head injuries and was released from the same hospital last week. Arno said he planned to call her soon.

As for returning to the sky, the veteran helicopter cameraman said he was undecided.

“That’s what I do. I fly,” Arno said. “I’ve probably got close to 8,000 hours in the back of helicopters.”

He glanced at his damaged leg, and added: “I’ve got to really think seriously about whether I want to fly again.”