2 Survive Copter Crash at John Wayne Airport

COSTA MESA — A small helicopter that appeared to be on a training exercise crashed while approaching one of John Wayne Airport’s landing strips Tuesday, slightly injuring one of the men on board and closing that runway for several hours, officials said.

Commercial air traffic uses a larger air strip and was not affected by the crash, which occurred shortly after 6 p.m. on a grassy area north of the smaller runway, airport spokeswoman Pat Ware said.

According to eyewitnesses who watched the crash from the main terminal, the helicopter appeared to be involved in a training exercise for about 20 minutes before the crash.

The aircraft--a Robinson R22 two-seater turbine helicopter--took off and landed repeatedly from a grassy area, flying less than 1,000 yards each time, said eyewitnesses. On one such maneuver, it abruptly fell.

“It dropped about 50 feet, flipped sideways and went into the ground,” said Greg Heffington, 40, a Colorado businessman who saw the crash. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Upon impact, the two men inside the helicopter apparently escaped from the wreckage by themselves.

“They were stumbling, walking, crawling to get away from the wreck,” said Heffington, who was waiting for a colleague’s flight to arrive.

To other observers, the two appeared lucky to survive the crash.

“When I saw them crashing, I was so scared. I thought they were going to die,” said Maricela Mene, 18, who saw the accident while working at McDonald’s. “I was relieved to find out they were OK.”

Ware said both men appeared to be in their mid- to late 30s. One sustained minor injuries and was taken to a local hospital. The other escaped uninjured.

Their names and the name of the company that owns the helicopter were not available late Tuesday. Several helicopter schools operate out of the airport, but Ware said it remained unclear whether the helicopter belonged to one of the schools.

Ware said about a dozen emergency vehicles responded to the crash, which did not cause a fire.

Federal Aviation Administration Duty Officer Jerry Johnston in Los Angeles said that workers removed the wreckage from the airport Tuesday night and that National Transportation Safety Board investigators will examine it today.