Four Dead As Copter Hits Houston Radio Tower
• Four people — one of them a child, were killed Sunday evening in Houston when their helicopter struck a radio tower and crashed.
The Houston Fire Dept. reports the incident occurred around 7:54pm Sunday evening. Houston Mayor John Whitmire said HFD Station 17 was right down the street from where the helicopter, believed to be a privately owned Robinson R-44 hit the tower and was at the scene within minutes. “This is a tragic event tonight, it’s a tragic loss of life,” Whitmire said.
According to various published reports, the 1000-foot tower involved in the crash powered Univision Regional Mexican KLTN (Que Buena 102.9), Latin Pop KAMA-FM (Latino Mix 104.9) and Pueblo de Galilea Urban Talk 1230-AM KCOH.
No one on the ground was injured from the crash and the collapse of the tower, and no structures on the ground were damaged. Whitmire said the damage and loss of life could have been worse because the crash happened near a butane tank and in a residential area. “We were very fortunate that it didn’t topple in one direction or another and the fireball pretty much was isolated,” he said. The resulting fire from the crash burned about 100-200 yards of grass in the immediate area of the tower, but was quickly extinguished.
The Washington Post reports that on Oct. 16 — four days before the incident — the FAA published a notice warning pilots that some of the tower’s lights were “unserviceable.” Chilling footage of the crash captured on a home security camera and posted by Houston Air Watch shows the tower with its top beacon blinking — although there doesn’t appear to be any other visible lights. [Screen grab from KHOU11/Houston]
