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U.S. NEWS Tuesday 11 June 2019

Helicopter crashes on roof of NYC skyscraper, killing pilot

Continued from Front McCormack, 58, chroni- Gov. Andrew Cuomo told
cled some of his helicop- reporters.
“There’s something myste- ter flights on his Face- Working for a bank on the
rious here,” Mayor Bill de book page, including a building’s seventh floor,
Blasio told CNN, saying of- 2014 emergency landing Kendall Sawyer felt a shake
ficials were scrutinizing vid- caused by a bird strike. — “jarring enough to no-
eo of a “very erratic” flight He had been conduct- tice,” but workers weren’t
and authorities needed to ing a sightseeing tour over sure what it was, she said.
find out more about the pi- Manhattan when the bird Then came an announce-
lot at the time he decided penetrated the windshield ment that the situation was
to take off. of his Bell BHT 407, causing being looked into, and a
The pilot, identified by his McCormack to land unex- few minutes later, an in-
employer as Tim McCor- pectedly at the West 30th struction to evacuate,
mack, was a former fire Street Heliport. without explanation, she
chief in upstate Clinton, “It was pretty much like an said.
New York. explosion going off in your “It was a little bit crazy, a
With 15 years of experi- cockpit,” McCormack told little bit scary” as workers
ence flying helicopters and television station WABC at walked down the stairs, she
single-engine airplanes, he the time. said.
was certified as a flight in- The crash happened short- A block south, lawyer
structor last year, accord- ly before 2 p.m. Monday, Lance Koonce heard a
ing to Federal Aviation Ad- when clouds obscured the loud sound he thought
ministration records. roof of the building. Rescue could be a low-flying heli-
The East Clinton Volunteer vehicles swarmed to the copter. From his 21st-story This photo released by the New York City Fire Department shows
Fire Department posted scene a few blocks from window, he looked up and damage caused by a helicopter crash, south of Central Park in
on Facebook that McCor- Rockefeller Center. saw smoke.q New York on Monday, June 10, 2019.
mack’s “technical knowl- Pedro Rodriguez, a pastry Associated Press
edge and ability to com- line cook at Le Bernardin,
mand an emergency were a well-known restaurant in
exceptional.” the AXA Equitable build-
The 19-year-old helicopter ing, said workers got an
was linked to a real estate announcement telling ev-
company founded by Ital- eryone to exit, and he later
ian-born investor Daniele heard from people around
Bodini, according to FAA him that there was a fire on
records. the roof.
The helicopter went down The evacuation was not
about 11 minutes after chaotic, Rodriguez said,
taking off from a heliport but he was rattled because
along the East River, a little he immediately thought of
more than a mile (1.6 km) the Sept. 11 attacks.
away. Police Commissioner “It’s scary when something
James O’Neill said it may like this happens,” he said.
have been returning to Videos posted by onlook-
its home airport in Linden, ers showed emergency
New Jersey. vehicles in the street, but
The director at Linden Mu- no obvious damage to the
nicipal Airport, Paul Dud- skyscraper.
ley, described McCormack The fire department later
as “a highly seasoned” and tweeted a photo of the
“very well regarded” pilot helicopter’s wreckage that
who was a regular at the showed piles of burned de-
airfield. bris on the roof.
He suspects that a me- “If you’re a New Yorker, you
chanical problem or the have a level of PTSD, right,
weather “overwhelmed from 9/11. And I remember
him and the helicopter,” that morning all too well.
Dudley said. “I believe he So as soon as you hear an
tried to get on the roof and aircraft hit a building, I think
spare the people on the my mind goes where every
ground.” New Yorker’s mind goes,”