The Chattanooga Times Free Press (Tennessee)
KENOSHA, Wis. — A helicopter that crashed through the roof of a Kenosha, Wis., home rolled down the staircase and out the front door, narrowly missing a sleeping family of five before coming to a standstill on a neighbor’s lawn, police said Sunday.
“It went down the staircase and out the front door,” said Kenosha Police Sgt. Cindy Fredericksen. “It’s unbelievable. It looks like a construction site. I can’t imagine what it sounded like.”
No one in the house was injured in the 5:30 a.m. crash, but both people in the helicopter were killed, Fredericksen said. The identities of the deceased were not immediately released.
Carla Wilson, who was sleeping with her family in her two-story house, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that the helicopter missed the bedrooms located on either side of the staircase but sliced off the top of the banister as it rolled downstairs.
The helicopter caught fire after it exited the home’s front door and landed on a neighbor’s front lawn, police said. The house did not catch fire, but fuel spilled onto the street. Firefighters were cleaning up the spill Sunday afternoon.
James Meomartino, a neighbor, said he and his wife were startled awake by the sound of a loud boom. When they went outside, they saw the helicopter on fire, he said. Then they ran to help the Wilson family.
“They were in shock,” Meomartino said.
Police said it appeared the helicopter had lurched onto its side as it crashed, causing the blades to slice through the roof.
John Parrish, who owns Midwest Helicopter in Kenosha, said he heard about the crash and went to the site at 6 a.m. this morning. He saw a gaping hole in the roof and another hole coming out of the front door, he said.
It was not known if weather conditions played a role in the crash. Parrish said conditions were extremely foggy this morning.
“These aircraft are not made to fly in this weather,” Parrish said.
The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating, said Kenosha Police Sgt. Eric Larsen.
A spokesman for the FAA said the helicopter, a Robinson R44, did not file a flight plan with aviation officials. But police said the helicopter had departed from a private Chicago area airport and was headed to a Kenosha airport located about two miles from the crash site.