There were no indications of trouble from two Atlanta police officers before the helicopter they were piloting collided with utility pole wires, killing both men, according to a preliminary report released Wednesday by the National Transportation Safety Board.
“The helicopter was not communicating with air traffic control at the time of the accident and no distress calls from the flight crew were noted,” read the report.
Pilot Richard J. Halford, 48, and tactical flight officer Shawn A. Smiley, 40, died when the Hughes OH-6 helicopter crashed Nov. 3 near a busy intersection in downtown Atlanta. The APD veterans were helping search for a missing 9-year-old child who later returned home safely.
The NTSB report reaches no conclusions about what caused the accident. Such findings could take up to a year.
Atlanta police on Wednesday also released audiotapes of the 911 calls to police the night of the crash.
“We seen a helicopter, it was like going crazy, went face down,” one caller said. “The people in the helicopter, I know they are hurt.”
“It’s on fire. Everything’s on fire,” the caller continued. “I ain’t never seen anything like this before.”
Accounts from other witnesses, including one who said he saw the Vietnam-era helicopter spinning before the crash, have led veteran pilots interviewed by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution to suspect mechanical problems — such as a malfunctioning tail rotor.
According to the NTSB investigator, the tail rotor blades remained attached to the tail rotor gearbox. Contact with the wires was visible on the tail boom — which was separated from the fuselage — and on one of the main rotor blades, the NTSB report states.
The OH-6, built in 1967, was “substantially damaged,” and a post-crash fire virtually gutted the fuselage and cabin, according to the NTSB.
The agency’s probe is just beginning. Over the next several months, investigators will carefully reconstruct the crash, gathering details about the aircraft and its pilot, who had a reputation as a level-headed, careful aviator.
Staff writer Rhonda Cook contributed to this article.
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