CNN’s aviation correspondent Pete Muntean called video of a Broward Co. Sheriff’s Office helicopter spinning out of control before crashing into an apartment building, “really hard to watch.”

Local media reported that two people were killed and four taken to the hospital after the Monday morning crash. Three people were aboard the helicopter, according to the FAA.

“We’re getting pretty scant details, but we can see in the video some really key clues here as to what happened in this crash,” Muntean said, continuing:

This Broward County Sheriff’s department fire rescue helicopter, it’s an EC-135, is the type of the helicopter. You can see in that video of the left side of the helicopter, something apparently on fire. The helicopter trailing some smoke. And then, this is where it gets really hard to watch. The pylon that goes out to the tail rotor, so critical in a helicopter to keep it flying straight, breaks into two, and the helicopter, the forces of the rotor, the main rotor just overcome it, and it spins out of control.

Video from the scene showed a huge impact crater through the roof of an apartment building. Muntean said it still wasn’t clear whether those taken to the hospital had been in the apartment building or the helicopter. He called it “a very grisly crash,” then continued:

This helicopter type has a very good safety record. Two engines on board. Built by Air Bus and Eurocopter. It’s been out for a long time, 2,000 of them out there. The flight path tells a really distinct story here… this helicopter took off at 8:45 this morning from the Pompano Beach Air Park, pretty busy airport there, a lot of flight training. They went out to the west, only got to about 650 feet, very low, and then immediately tried to make a turn back east to the airport when this accident so clearly happened…the video, very hard to watch. So clear that this helicopter was out of control, and not much the pilots could do, especially without a tail rotor. It is so hard to keep a helicopter flying straight without it.

Watch the clip above via CNN.

The post CNN Airs Stunning Video of Helicopter Spinning Out of Control, Ending In ‘Very Grisly Crash’ Which Killed Two first appeared on Mediaite.

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