Copter Pilot Put Others at Risk, Fire Official Says

By not declaring an in-flight emergency, the pilot of a news helicopter that crashed at Van Nuys Airport increased the danger to people on the ground, a fire official said Tuesday.

Airport firefighters did not know the chopper was in distress Sunday night until it had slammed into a landing pad and burst into flames, fire officials said at a news conference at Van Nuys Airport.

Pilot Kris Kelley had lost all hydraulic power while flying for KTTV-TV Channel 11 over the Shrine Auditorium after the Academy Awards.

Airport officials said she asked the Van Nuys control tower for a priority landing but didn’t declare an in-flight emergency, which would have prompted firefighters to mobilize around the landing pad.

Instead, it was a cameraman, Aaron Fitzgerald, who dashed to the flaming wreckage and dragged Kelley and her passenger, cameraman Phil Arno, to safety. Airport ground personnel also reached the crash ahead of firefighters.

Kelley’s decision “put more people at risk,” said Capt. Paul Quagliata, head of the Van Nuys Airport fire station. He also questioned why Kelley flew 15 miles back to Van Nuys.

“It seems common sense to me that she should have landed sooner,” Quagliata said. “It’s like if you recognize the brakes on your car are out, you stop driving and get off the road.”

Larry Welk, a news helicopter pilot, was escorting the troubled aircraft. He said Kelley told him by radio that she was struggling with the controls, and that he worried her landing could be dangerous.

“But when I asked her if we should call the crash trucks, she said no,” Said Welk on Tuesday: “If it was me having the problems, I would have declared an emergency situation. But it was her call to make.”

Kelley, 33, of Thousand Oaks, was recovering from arm surgery Tuesday at Northridge Hospital Medical Center. She was unavailable for comment, said a spokesman for her employer, Helinet Aviation Service.

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Dave Corsello, a vice president of Helinet, said it was difficult to know what the pilot had been going through and would not comment on her actions.

Arno, 50, of Chatsworth, remained hospitalized after breaking his ankle and suffering a concussion, a hospital spokeswoman said.

The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, a union that represents airborne reporters, had filed a grievance against KTTV over concerns members have voiced about Helinet’s safety record.

“Sunday’s crash throws a spotlight on helicopter safety issues,” said Gerry Daley, director of AFTRA’s broadcast department.

A KTTV spokesman said Helinet had recently been audited by an independent aviation safety firm and that no problems were found with the maintenance or operations of the company’s aircraft.