Police helicopter crashes near Newport Beach, California

The aircraft, operated by Huntington Beach Police Department (HBPD) and designated HB-1, landed in the water at 18:34 near the shore, in an area between the Lido and Balboa peninsulas. It had been responding to a call for service.

The crash resulted in one pilot being killed and injured a second. The officer who was killed was Officer Nicholas Vella, a 14-year veteran of HBPD. The second officer, who has not been identified, was released from the hospital Sunday morning.

Eyewitness accounts of the crash said that the helicopter could be seen spiraling before it landed in the water.

Following the crash, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, Newport Beach Fire Department and the Orange County Fire Authority arrived on the scene to attempt a rescue.

HBPD Police Chief Eric Parra has confirmed that the department’s helicopters would be grounded for inspections, adding: “We need to have the current aircraft inspected to make sure there’s nothing wrong…we’re going to pull those in — they won’t fly until we do the inspection.”

Two investigations are currently ongoing to understand the cause of the crash

An investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is currently ongoing to investigate the cause of the accident, and another is being conducted by the Orange County Sheriff’s Department Major Accident Reconstruction Team.

The agency confirmed that one of the pilots had made a brief call before the crash to report that HB-1 was experiencing mechanical issues, before calling again to say they were going to crash.

The NTSB investigation is expected to take between 12 and 18 months, according to NTSB spokesperson Eric Weiss, who added: “We look at not only what happened, but we try to figure out why it happened. By figuring out why it happened, you can maybe prevent future accidents.”

HB-1 is one of several emergency service aircraft which have come down across the US in recent months. On 27 December 2021, a Learjet 35 owned by Aeromedevac crashed near San Diego, killing all four onboard. An E135 crashed landed near Philadelphia on 12 January - however all occupants survived.