Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Tragic London Crash


                This morning, a helicopter in London crashed into a construction crane and fell to the ground. Two people were killed during this collision and thirteen others were injured. An article on CNN describes this horrible accident. A helicopter pilot by the name of Peter Barnes who was fifty years old was the pilot today of the helicopter that crashed. He unfortunately was one of the two people that died and the only one on the aircraft. Tragically, he was the father of two young children. The second person that died was near the crash site and was evidently too near it. They were rushed to the hospital but apparently could not be revived. According to a nearby builder who saw the crash, the pilot looked like he had not seen the crash because he hit the crane at full speed. When it hit, the rotor blade snapped off and the helicopter spun to the ground and erupted into a burst of flames.

                The helicopter crashed near a busy intersection at the “height of the morning rush hour.” The particular location was in Vauxhall, south of the River Thames in central London. Coincidentally, the crane that the copter crashed into was being used for what will be known as the Vauxhall Tower, which will be one of Europe’s tallest towers when it is finished.

                It was very foggy this morning in London which was probably the reason that the crash occurred. It makes me wonder whether this will spark new helicopter flying rules or new air force laws or something. It might impact the future height that helicopters will be allowed to fly at. Although it also may not because depending on how much of that tower is built already, it may just be pretty tall. With the addition of the extremely tall cranes, I wonder how high up in the air this helicopter was. It just seems extra tragic that the pilot had a family that he won’t be able to go home to. (335)

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