Since 2018, the premise of Huntington Beach’s Cars ‘N Copters has been simple: take the basic idea of Cars & Coffee, do it on a beach and then add helicopters and an extra dose of copaganda. It’s the kind of event that’s perfect for Orange County, California, but as ABC7 reports, on Saturday, the day before this year’s event, a helicopter crashed, injuring five people. The next day, during the show itself, the wrecked helicopter still hadn’t been removed from the scene of the crash.
Among those injured were two people who were inside the helicopter, as well as three pedestrians. Thankfully, all five survived, but they needed medical treatment and were rushed to the hospital. So far, none of the victims have been identified, nor have any details regarding their injuries been officially released. According to the Orange County Register, though, at least one of the injured pedestrians was a child. A family member also confirmed to the Register that the pilot was a man named Eric Nixon, who reportedly suffered “some broken ribs, crushed vertebrae and several bruises.”
The National Transportation Safety Board is currently investigating the cause of the crash and has released a statement saying to expect a preliminary report in 30 days. But at least based on what we can see in the various videos of the crash, it looks like an issue with the helicopter itself (the tail rotor appears to fly off just before the crash), not something the pilot did. “I noticed when the second one came, it was spinning weird,” witness Jackson Etchert told the Orange County Register. “I’m like, ‘Hmm, I wonder if it’s doing a trick.’ Then, I saw it spinning even faster, and I’m like, ‘Nope, that thing is crashing.'”
It could have easily been worse
Another witness told ABC7, “I heard the ‘pop, pop’ and I was like, ‘No, he’s going down. This could have been a lot worse, a lot worse. There was hundreds of people lined up. It could have been a lot worse.”
On Sunday, Rick Sandoval, another witness, told ABC7 he also thought the helicopter was trying to do something cool before it crashed, saying, “I thought it was like a movie stunt gone bad, and then I realized that this was not a movie, this was real life, because we were actually witnessing all of the other helicopters land safely. When we just saw that helicopter lose control, everyone just turned around and ran in the opposite direction.”
Meanwhile, witness Roy Rausch told the Register, “They had just done a couple (of) flybys and circled back around. It was just above the landing spot.” He then added, “It had already done just an impressive fly-by by the crowd up at the Hilton there. It was the closest I’ve ever seen a helicopter fly to that crowd. So it was really kind of performing for the crowd.”
Considering how close the helicopter was to the crowd, the crash could have easily injured a lot more than just five people. It crashed into a pedestrian bridge that crosses the Pacific Coast Highway and leads to a Hyatt resort, ultimately wedging itself between some trees and lampposts.
