ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — The National Transportation Safety Board released its report Friday, but it gives only a small clue as to what happened when a helicopter carrying three people crashed into a College Park home.
The crash, which occurred on March 22, 2015, killed pilot Bruce Teitelbaum, his wife and another passenger.
Just days before the crash, maintenance work had been done on the helicopter’s main rotor blade, but Eyewitness News learned that is a normal maintenance procedure.
Carol Finch built a whole new guest house after the helicopter crashed into her home more than a year ago, but she still can’t erase what she saw.
“Half the power pole flew across my swimming pool. I just kind of turned around and looked at it -- everything on fire,” Finch said.
The chopper, a Robinson R44II, took off from Orlando Executive Airport, but five minutes after takeoff, the pilot had contacted the control tower and asked to return, the NTSB report stated. The chopper then hit a power line transformer, crashed into the guest house and burst into flames.
“I guess you're just, kind of, can’t even move when you see something like that and you’re trying to process it,” Finch said.
Finch said she still finds pieces of the wreckage around her house.
Eyewitness News found a service bulletin from Sept. 2012 that suggested that the aluminum fuel tanks in R44II helicopters be replaced with bladder-type tanks, which could prevent any post-crash fires.
The NTSB report stated the chopper's fuel tanks were not bladder-style, but it could be another couple of weeks until we learn what caused the pilot to crash.
The manufacturer of the helicopter, Robinson Helicopter, said in a statement:
“Robinson is continuing to work with the NTSB and other investigative authorities on this accident. At this time only the NTSB Factual Report has been issued and we do not believe it is appropriate for Robinson to comment while the NTSB Probable Cause Report is pending. “
Contact Julie Salomone for more on this story.
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