THIS is the dramatic moment a helicopter crashed on the tarmac after a flight instructor lost control during a lesson.
CCTV footage shows the Bell 206 aircraft spinning uncontrollably before plummeting to the ground nearly vertically at Cedar City Regional Airport in Utah.
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The chopper’s tail section is seen smashing into the taxiway as it continues to spiral – just metres away from another aircraft.
Two people are shown getting out of the neighbouring parked helicopter and rushed to the site of the crash.
Miraculously, both the instructor and the student managed to escape the horror with only minor injuries.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released the video while announcing that the May 23 crash was caused by the 32-year-old teacher losing control, not a mechanical failure.
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Incidents involving instructional helicopter flights in the US are extremely rare, averaging at a rate of 4.7 per 100,000 flight hours.
A long-term safety analysis tracked through an NTSB database recorded only 299 incidents in a 12-year period.
Last week, five people were killed after a helicopter crashed into a fireball at an airport on the Malaysian island of Borneo.
It comes after two Brit newlyweds died alongside a Greek pilot in a horror helicopter crash on the Greek island of Sifnos in August.
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Alexander Cromie, 31, and Marie Ebert, 30, were on the honeymoon when their chopper exploded into a fireball.
The deadly incident also involved Bell 206, which witnesses described as “spinning out of control” – suggesting a tail rotor failure.
A report filed with Greece’s Civil Aviation Authority said the pilot did not ensure the straps were removed before starting the engine.
Records suggest the chopper stayed in Paros for three days before the incident with the straps.
It was then given an air-worthiness certificate just over a month later, on July 2.
As a precaution, Greece‘s civil aviation authority has ruled that “visual and functional checks” on tail rotors must be carried out before every flight in the country involving a Bell 206 helicopter.
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