Now here and one person has been
airlifted to hospital after a helicopter
crash on the aisle of white. Emergency
services were called to Shanklin Road
just before half 9 this morning. The
road remains closed and police have told
people to avoid the area. Well, the
person freed from the wreckage was taken
to the major trauma center in
Southampton. Well, let's speak to Darren
Tug, editor and publisher at Island
Echo. Uh Darren Tug, good afternoon.
Thank you for joining us. What do we
know about the current condition of this
uh helicopter pilot?
>> Yeah, good afternoon. Well, information
is still very sketchy at this time. What
we do know is that the helicopter
involved had a total of four people on
board and was operating a pleasure
flight out of nearby Sandan Airport. The
helicopter has been used for sightseeing
trips across the bank holiday weekend.
Uh but it was on one of the first
flights of the day today that this uh
crash occurred. Eyewitnesses have
described seeing the helicopter sort of
spiraling out of control. Um, and we can
see from footage captured by the Sky
News helicopter that the uh aircraft has
come down in in a hedge beside the main
A302 road on the outskirts of Shanklin.
Uh the incident was declared a major
incident for a time which has has
prompted a large-scale emergency service
including from the Coast Guard who
deployed a helicopter to the scene
alongside the Hampshire White Air
Ambulance. Like you say, they've um
airlifted one person to Southampton
General Hospital. At the moment, police
say they're not in a position to confirm
any further details, but we do know the
air accident investigation branch have
been informed and they've deployed a
team to the aisle of white.
>> Yeah, Darren, let's just be clear
exactly what we think happened here. One
person left the hospital. No idea if
that person was the pilot at this stage
because you mentioned that it was
potentially carrying four people.
>> Yes. So, there's no indication at the
moment as to the casualty total numbers.
Um but we we do believe there was four
people on board operating this p uh this
pleasure flight but yes no information
whether it is the pilot that has been
airlifted or one of the other passengers
at this time.
>> Do you have any more detail about the
the chart of the organization that was
flying this aircraft that that came
down? Uh and is it a usual thing for
there to be sort of pleasure flights in
and around uh the aisle of white?
>> Yeah, it is. So this company come over
sort of three or four times a year and
operate pleasure flights out of Sandown
airport. Um it's of course a bank
holiday weekend. So for the last two or
three days they have been operating
dozens of flights every single day. Uh
normally without any incident at all but
for reasons currently unknown. One of
these early morning flights um we think
possibly the second flight of the day um
something's gone gone terribly terribly
wrong. As you say, police are still
withholding some detail, specifically
the numbers of people that were on
board. Do we know the route of the
aircraft, where it was going from and
and to and at which stage in the flight
it came down?
>> Yeah. So, they they go to and from
Sandan airport and they normally conduct
a sort of circum navigation of the local
area. Um it's a bright sunny day. Uh
fantastic views today. So it would have
been taking part in one of those usual
routes um around Sandown Bay and across
Shanklin. It's unclear at the moment
whether it was taking off and or
recently taken off and and got a short
distance or whether it was actually on
its sort of almost final approach
towards the airport. The crash has
occurred sort of two miles away from
from Sandon airport. So not a huge dis
distance in terms of um you know a
aviation. Um but yeah, it's details are
very very uh sort of sketchy at this
time and we expect further information
from the police later this afternoon.
>> Do we at least know the the name of the
organization that was running this this
flight?
>> Uh we do I believe it's uh North Umbrea
aircraft helicopters. We can confirm
that in a little bit more detail later
on this afternoon, I'm sure. But uh yes,
it's it's very tragic. very tragic for
for everyone involved including that
company who you know operate pleasure
flights without any incident normally.
>> Yeah. And of course one person taken to
hospital to to Southampton. I mean give
us a sense of this road where it came
down. We're looking at the the shots
from the Sky News helicopter. Looks like
a pretty typical country lane, a single
track road, 60 mph perhaps. Um talk to
us about the area.
>> Yeah, so the the incidents occurred
between the village of God's and the
seaside town of Shanklin. It's a bank
holiday weekend in August on the aisle
of white. It's an incredibly busy area.
Lots of tourists down at the moment.
This is it's actually quite a
significant road connecting uh Godzilla,
which is a popular destination for
tourists, and Shanklin, which is your
typical seaside town full of holiday
makers at this time of the year. So,
this road is is a significantly uh busy
road. Um high-speed road like you say.
It appears no vehicles are involved. um
which is incredible given given how busy
this road would have been this morning.
Um somehow you know that the helicopter
has avoided hitting any traffic that
that may have been going along. Um but
yes, the road is expected to be closed
for for the rest of the today and and
potentially into tomorrow as air
accident investigation branch
investigators travel here to to assess
exactly what's happened.
>> Yeah. And finally then, have they given
a time frame as to when we will get some
more detail, not least about the people
on board, but um perhaps as to to what
did go wrong?
>> No, there's no indication from police at
this time. They're saying that they're
unable to provide any further detail at
this stage. Of course, they will be
speaking to all of the different parties
involved, speaking to to family members
and necks of kin to to let them know
what has happened. Um but we we're
hopeful that as the afternoon progresses
further detail will become available.
>> Indeed. All right. Darren too good
editor and publisher of Island Echo on
the island of white on the news of a
helicopter crash there on the island.
One person taken to hospital. Do
appreciate your uh reporting Darren. Uh
really good to speak with you. Perhaps
we'll speak again in the next few days.
Thank you there.