Huntington Beach police helicopter suddenly veered right before deadly crash, NTSB report says

The pilot of the Huntington Beach police helicopter HB1 tried to keep flying it after it suddenly veered right prior to last month’s crash that killed Officer Nicholas Vella, according to a National Transportation Safety Board report released Wednesday.

A preliminary report was released a day after Vella’s memorial service at Honda Center. Vella, 44, was a 14-year veteran of the Huntington Beach Police Department.

The pilot, who sustained minor injuries in the crash and was released from the hospital the following day, has not been identified. The pilot and Vella, who was the tactical flight officer, were responding to a call for assistance in Newport Beach, under a contract service agreement.

The helicopter left Huntington Beach at about 6 p.m. on the night of Feb. 19 and reached Newport Beach about 30 minutes later. As they were about to leave the area, they received a transmission that there was a fight taking place just south of their location.

According to the report, the pilot redirected the helicopter toward the area while Vella turned on the infrared camera and began searching the ground. After he spotted a group fighting, the pilot began to maneuver the helicopter in a tighter right orbit about 500 feet above ground level, while Vella reported what was transpiring with the fight.

As ground patrol officers approached the group, which had mostly dispersed, the pilot was concerned that a member of the group would start fighting with an officer. He slowed the helicopter to keep the camera aimed at the scene.

“Suddenly the helicopter yawed [turned suddenly] aggressively to the right,� the report said. “He immediately applied full left foot pedal and forward cyclic to try and arrest the rotation, but there was no response.�

The helicopter continued to not respond as the pilot kept trying to apply corrective measures, and it began to progress into a spinning descent.

“We’re having some mechanical issues right now,� Vella said over the police radio channel, followed by, “We’re going down, we’re going down.�

The pilot said the rotation became more aggressive, and he could not stop it. He said the engine was operating throughout the descent, and his goal was to continue to fly the helicopter. Because it was dark, he had no frame of reference, but he could see lights of houses approaching and sensed impact was imminent, so he pulled the collective control to try to slow the copter down.

“They then hit the water hard in a downward right rotation, on [Vella’s] side,� the report said. “The pilot recalled a sudden smash and saw water and glass coming toward him as the canopy shattered. He felt the rotor blades hitting the water, everything then stopped, and within a few seconds he was submerged.�

Continuing to hold the collective, the pilot used a rescue air bottle to breathe. He reached down and released his seat harness, pushing himself through he door opening. Onlookers soon arrived and pulled him away from the wreck and toward a boat.

The NTSB investigation could take from 12 to 18 months to complete, according to the agency.

“The Huntington Beach Police Department is appreciative of NTSB’s ongoing efforts investigating the crash of our Huntington Beach police helicopter,� HBPD spokeswoman Jennifer Carey said in a statement. “We will continue to work with NTSB on their investigation going forward. We await NTSB’s final, comprehensive report.�

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