Photo: County of Kaua'i
A tour helicopter pilot from Hawaii is being hailed as a hero for saving the lives of himself and his four passengers when the helicopter lost power mid-flight.
The MD500E helicopter, operated by Jack Harter Helicopters, was flying over Kauai, Hawaii, on February 27 when the engine lost power. As the pilot tried to guide the helicopter away from the water and toward the beach, he attempted a risky recovery move to get the aircraft closer to land.
"As the helicopter was falling out of the sky, the pilot appeared to autorotate the helicopter, a recovery maneuver where rotor blades are driven by the upward flow of air through the rotor," Collin Rugg explained in a post on X. "At the last second, the pilot swung the plane and crash-landed on the beach."
The pilot's maneuver worked, and while the helicopter still crashed on the remote Honopu Beach, nobody inside was killed. Only one passenger was injured, suffering a broken vertebrae. They were airlifted to a hospital for treatment and have since been released.
Rugg's post also included a dramatic video of the crash, which you can watch below.