Helicopters

LONDON -- A helicopter apparently crashed into a crane atop a high-rise building in central London during the morning rush hour Wednesday, falling to earth and killing at least two people, police said. Video footage showed flaming debris on the ground where the chopper came down in the Vauxhall district of south London, close to the headquarters of MI6, Britain's spy agency. Scotland Yard said two people were confirmed dead at the scene, with two others taken to the hospital.

A 16-year partnership that provided police helicopter patrols to Newport Beach and neighboring Costa Mesa has officially been dissolved, a victim of budget-tightening. Both cities instead are contracting with Huntington Beach to provide helicopter patrol at $700 an hour. In a final move Thursday, Airborne Law Enforcement board members -- who represented the two Orange County cities -- voted to dissolve the program. They'd earlier agreed to sell off three remaining police helicopters and dispose of 5,000 gallons of unused fuel.

Re: "FAA to Put Inspectors on Valley News Helicopters," May 10. As residents living south of Van Nuys Airport, are we supposed to breathe a sigh of relief that news helicopters will be monitored by an on-board inspector? The idea is preposterous and insulting to the intelligence of the public. Of course monitored news helicopters will depart over the golf course and bank over the basin! Of course monitored helicopters won't fly over residents' homes! And of course, the moment the inspectors exit the helicopters, pilots will again take off over homes.

The pilot of a medical helicopter that crashed in Missouri in 2011 had been texting, and that was a contributing factor to the disaster that killed four people, federal investigators said. The case is the first fatal commercial aircraft accident involving texting. But the texts, some from the pilot to a female friend, were just one problem. The five-member National Transportation Safety Board on Tuesday unanimously agreed on Tuesday that the crash was caused by a tired pilot who skipped preflight safety checks that would have revealed the helicopter was low on fuel.

A local TV station had a helicopter hovering over my residence from 10 p.m. to well past 11 p.m., keeping myself and my neighbors from sleep, while they covered some minor "news" story. The time has come to limit the hours of these noisemakers. A curfew needs to be imposed that would not allow helicopters to hover over neighborhoods between the hours of 10 p.m. through 7 a.m. CHARLES COLLINGS Los Angeles

French and British attack helicopters hit targets in Libya in the first use of such aircraft as part of the NATO-led campaign against the government of Moammar Kadafi, authorities said Saturday. The helicopters, including British Apaches firing Hellfire missiles and 30-millimeter cannon rounds, struck targets around Port Brega, a strategic oil port that is the easternmost city still under the control of Kadafi's forces. The targets hit included a radar installation and a military checkpoint, officials said.

The Army announced Thursday that it has grounded all 526 AH-64 Apache helicopters as a precautionary measure after finding cracked rotor hub retention nuts on two of the helicopters. The cracked parts were found during routine maintenance inspections.

We admire the county auditor-controller's and treasurer's courage when they questioned the value of the county's $1.3-million police helicopter program. They are right. Low-flying, frequent-patrolling police helicopters waste money. Several recent articles have included statistics from the Orange County Sheriff's Department that are intended to convince the public that police helicopters are essential to saving lives and stopping crime. We believe that the police helicopter promotional statistics are, for the most part, irrelevant hype.

Police Chief David Snowden of Costa Mesa says helicopters are a "viable" program in the community. That may be because the chief and the Costa Mesa City Council know that Costa Mesa residents don't mind noise pollution and searchlights from the air. The Newport Beach City Council, however, knows that any pollution is objectionable especially from a source that is without merit. Didn't the police do their job very nicely before helicopters? Police helicopters should be eliminated by the Newport Beach council, and please don't fly over Laguna.

Where am I? Well, if there are streets lined with supermarket shopping carts--and the steady "whop-whop" of police helicopters (days and mostly nights)--you must be in Van Nuys. PHIL F. MARSIK Van Nuys

Alaska state troopers were attempting Monday to determine the cause of a rescue helicopter crash over the weekend in the mountainous region near Talkeetna in which all three aboard are feared dead. Troopers spokeswoman Megan Peters said the crash occurred Saturday night after the troopers helicopter had picked up a stranded snowmobiler near Larson Lake, seven miles east of the town that is one of the main centers for climbers attempting to scale Mt. McKinley. A second helicopter spotted the wreckage Sunday morning, but it was not yet known what caused the crash.

The aerial crash that killed three people working on a Discovery Channel reality TV production occurred when the helicopter collided into the base of a valley wall in Acton while preparing to shoot a scene for a military-themed show, federal aviation investigators said in a preliminary report issued Monday. The National Transportation Safety Board is still investigating the cause of the Feb. 10 accident, but a preliminary report by the board provides new details on the circumstances surrounding the most serious film set accident in three decades in California.

The pilot of a helicopter that crashed in Acton this month had his pilot privileges suspended twice in the last decade, Federal Aviation Administration records show. David Gibbs, 59, of Valencia was among three people killed in an early morning crash at the Polsa Rosa Ranch on Feb. 10 during the production of a military-themed reality TV show for the Discovery Channel. The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the crash, which was the worst film set accident in California since 1982, when star Vic Morrow and two child actors were killed by a helicopter that slammed into them during the filming of "Twilight Zone: The Movie.

He loved fast cars - Ferraris and racing Porsches - and even faster aircraft. More than that, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department helicopter pilot Anthony M. Pachot loved his job patrolling his more than 4,000-square-mile beat from the air. Pachot, the department's first African American pilot, died of cancer Feb. 11 in Los Angeles. He was 65. During his 33-year-career as a deputy, he managed to walk away after a harrowing midair collision and survived several attempts by gunmen to shoot him out of the sky. PHOTOS: Notable deaths of 2013 Along the way, he saved countless lives by plucking lost hikers off rocky ledges and out of narrow canyons and navigating his AS350 B2 Eurocopter through webs of power lines to pull children from rain-swollen storm channels.

A helicopter crash in northern Los Angeles County that killed three people was one of the worst film set accidents in recent years and is likely to further fuel debate over whether working conditions on reality TV programs are unsafe. Three people, including the pilot and a cast member, were killed in a helicopter crash early Sunday morning at the Polsa Rosa Ranch in a remote area near Soledad Canyon Road in Acton, authorities said. The 730-acre ranch, which straddles the Santa Clara River and borders the Angeles National Forest, is a popular spot for filming.

A helicopter crash in northern Los Angeles County that killed three people Sunday -- one of the worst film set accidents in recent years -- is likely to further fuel debate over whether working conditions on reality TV programs are unsafe. Three people were killed in a helicopter crash early Sunday morning at the Polsa Rosa Ranch in a remote area near Soledad Canyon Road in Acton, authorities said. Polsa Rosa Ranch is a popular location for filming movies and TV shows and was also where a diver working on the Disney movie "The Lone Ranger" drowned in September while prepping a tank for an underwater shooting scene.

Orange County Treasurer Robert L. Citron and Auditor-Controller Steven E. Lewis showed courage when they suggested the county could save $1.5 million per year by grounding the two sheriff's helicopters. At the beginning of this year, the sheriff and the cities of Anaheim, Huntington Beach, Newport Beach and Costa Mesa, collectively had 13 police helicopters. The helicopter has become a law-enforcement status symbol. Not one of these law enforcement agencies has ever demonstrated the cost effectiveness of these vehicles, nor even that they reduce crime.

LONDON -- A helicopter apparently crashed into a crane atop a high-rise building in central London during the morning rush hour Wednesday, falling to earth and killing at least two people, police said. Video footage showed flaming debris on the ground where the chopper came down in the Vauxhall district of south London, close to the headquarters of MI6, Britain's spy agency. Scotland Yard said two people were confirmed dead at the scene, with two others taken to the hospital.

LAS VEGAS -- It was as if Charles Xavier himself held court on the CES showroom floor, sending drones flying with just his mind. Except that the X-Man in question was a middle-aged Asian convention attendee wearing a brain-wave-reading headset from NeuroSky. The 8-year-old San Jose company hopes to turn electrical impulses produced by customers' gray matter into a mainstream consumer brand by pairing its headset with gadgets and games dreamed up by outside developers.   Those include Steve Castellotti, the young chief executive of Puzzlebox, who put his mind-controlled spherical helicopter Orbit on Kickstarter in November hoping to raise $10,000.