A helicopter crash in Florida on Wednesday morning has left 1 dead and 2 injured, with footage of rescue and recovery efforts surfacing online.
Videos by Wide Open Country
The helicopter plummeted into Biscayne Bay in Miami-Dade County around 11:30 a.m. this morning (Nov. 4), according to the Coast Guard, per CBS News. By 11:50 a.m., the Coast Guard, along with other rescue boats, was spotted responding near the helicopter crash site.
The Coast Guard later confirmed that 3 people were on board the downed helicopter, with 2 injured and 1 killed in the crash.
Footage widely shared online showed the helicopter upside down, submerged in the ocean waters. More video showed a medical helicopter transporting the 2 survivors to Jackson Memorial Hospital. According to CBS News, a third video showed "a body under a yellow tarp."
Details of the helicopter crash, including the identities of those on board, are scarce. However, the Federal Aviation Administration revealed that the downed aircraft was a Robinson R44 helicopter.
The Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office will be joining the National Transportation Safety Board in an investigation into the tragic incident.
Florida Helicopter Crash Follows Tragic Learjet Crash
The helicopter crash follows the devastating Learjet crash also in Florida, from earlier this week.
Harrowing footage showed the moment the $2 million private jet struck the ground in Greenacres, South Florida, on Nov. 1, instantly erupting into a ball of flames.
The plane's captain, a 55-year-old Jeff Gregory along with his co-pilot 20 year old Nathalia Gadelha died instantly in the crash. Their passengers, 45-year-old tech entrepreneur Adam Robinson, his 40-year-old wife, Helen Sharp, and their children, Emma, 4, and Charlie, 2, along with the children's nanny, Anita Maria Cetina, and the couple Rachael Reed and Charmi Fehr, also died in the crash.
Many online critics and armchair experts questioned whether the relatively green co-pilot contributed to the horrible accident. However, NASA administrator Jared Isaacman pushed back against the wild speculation.
"I feel compelled to post after seeing commentary about the Lear 60 crash, from missile strikes to DEI to critiquing this poor woman's final radio calls," Isaacman wrote in part on X. "That last part is what I find most troubling. She was the second-in-command, and while she was empowered to point out mistakes as part of good crew resource management, she was doing her job, communicating with ATC [Air Traffic Control] right to the end in a terrifying situation. She likely knew before many of those calls that she was going to die."
"I have heard final calls from friends, from military pilots with thousands of hours in fighter aircraft, and they are just as heartbreaking because they know the end is approaching," Isaacman continued.
"I understand the public interest given the footage and audio," he admitted. "But you do not know the aircraft's maintenance history, whether there was a structural failure, if any failure was induced by turbulence, overspeed, or overcontrol, or everything happening in that cockpit. I am sure weather will be part of the investigation, but beyond that, it is speculation...."
"Let people investigate, learn, and share the facts. Be respectful to those who perished and the families who carry their memories. God bless them and their loved ones," Isaacman concluded.
