2 Killed, 3 Hurt as Copter Crashes on Pomona Freeway

A private helicopter plummeted onto the Pomona Freeway and burst into flames on Tuesday night, killing the occupants of the chopper and injuring at least three motorists, authorities said.

The crash, which occurred about 9:50 p.m. just west of the Azusa Avenue exit in Hacienda Heights, lit up the westbound side of the freeway and tied up traffic for five miles in both directions.

“It was a Robinson F-22 helicopter that apparently hit some power lines and then hit a car on the freeway, demolishing it, and then struck another car,” said Tommy Aina, regional duty officer for the Federal Aviation Administration in Los Angeles.

Aina said the plane was registered to an aviation service firm based at Chino Airport.

The names of the dead and injured were not immediately available. Nor could law enforcement sources confirm the ownership of the aircraft, which sources said is owned by Skyline Aviation.

Scott Tingley, president of Skyline, said the firm owns a Robinson F-22 that was flying Tuesday night but would not say whether it was Skyline’s chopper that had crashed.

Witnesses said the aircraft had been flying unusually low and apparently became entangled in transformer wires. The crash plunged the Pomona Freeway into pandemonium as lashing power lines sparked wildly and panicked motorists slammed on their brakes, witnesses said.

Coincidentally, they said, the copter crashed just a few car-lengths from a California Highway Patrol car in the area. The CHP officer took control of the scene within minutes of the explosion.

“It was like daylight,” said Margarita Estrada, 26, a candy store clerk who was driving home from work when the crash occurred.

“All you could see was something coming down out of the sky, hitting the freeway and then everything lit up,” Estrada said.

“It was just one big explosion--pieces of helicopter were lying everywhere, and everything smelled like burnt rubber,” she added.

Estrada said that as she gingerly pulled her pickup truck to the shoulder of the road, she saw the wreckage of two cars, one of which appeared totaled. The helicopter had all but disintegrated, she said.