Helicopter crash in Houston: This is what we know about the investigation

CNN
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Authorities continue to investigate the circumstances of a helicopter crash in Houston on Sunday night that killed four people on board and sparked a huge fire within sight of homes.

The Private helicopter Robinson R44 collided with a radio tower after takeoff from Ellington Airport, about 17 miles south of the crash site.

Investigators are now investigating whether faulty lighting on the tower played a role in the crash that caused the structure to collapse.

The ages and names of the pilot and the three passengers killed were not released, but officials confirmed that one of the passengers was a child.

On Monday, Brian Rutt, an aviation safety investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board, described the accident scene as “complex” and said the investigation was in its early stages.

Here’s what we know:

According to investigators and open source data, the helicopter was flying at an altitude of about 600 feet when it hit the 1,000-foot radio tower just before 8 p.m. Sunday.

No one on the ground was injured and surrounding homes were undamaged, although some vehicles were affected, officials said. The crash ignited a fire that scorched about 100 to 200 meters of grass.

The accident near Engelke Street and North Ennis Street, east of downtown Houston, resulted in a significant explosion, Mayor John Whitmire said at a news conference Sunday evening.

Firefighters from a nearby station who heard the accident responded quickly, Whitmire said. He described the scene as a “terrible accident” and noted that both the tower and the helicopter were destroyed. Some residents experienced power outages, he added.

While watching a football game on Sunday night, Lawrence Gurule heard a noise that he said “sounded like a bomb.”

“I ran outside, looked up and could see smoke. The tower was gone,” he said.

It is believed that the radio tower’s lighting did not work for several days before the crash. The Federal Aviation Administration issued a notice Thursday indicating that the tower’s lights were deemed “unusable” through the end of the month.

FAA guidelines say towers above 200 feet above the ground “should generally be marked and/or lighted,” and any tower lighting failures “should be resolved as quickly as possible,” according to a 2020 release .

Towers and their guy ropes, which are used to stabilize a structure, pose a particular danger to helicopters, which typically operate at low altitudes, and can be difficult for pilots to see at night.

Video footage of the crash shows at least one flashing light at the top of the tower, but the rest of the structure appears to be unlit.

Although the cause of the crash is unknown, the NTSB told CNN that additional investigators would arrive at the scene Monday evening to examine and recover the plane.

The flight was identified as a “sightseeing” tour, with the helicopter registered to Porter Equipment Holdings LLC, based in Magnolia, Texas, according to the FAA. CNN has reached out to the company for a response.

Police searched the area Monday for debris, and the Houston Police Department’s Vehicle Crimes Unit conducted a three-dimensional scan over a 10-acre area to provide data to both the NTSB and FAA, Lt. Jonathan French at a Monday press conference.

Officials advised residents who saw debris around the crash site to leave it alone and report it to authorities.

CNN’s Pete Muntean, Elizabeth Wolfe, Sarah Dewberry, Lauren Mascarenhas, Rosa Flores, Sara Weisfeldt and Jillian Sykes contributed to this report.