Shane McMahon’s Helicopter Makes Emergency Water Landing Today, Shane Discusses Incident (Video)
NBC New York reports that a helicopter carrying Shane McMahon was forced to make an emergency landing in the Atlantic Ocean off Gilgo Beach in New York earlier today. There were no injuries reported to Shane or the other person aboard the chopper.
NBC noted that the landing was controlled but it promoted a major emergency response. The Robinson R44 four-seater chopper went down in the water about a half-mile off shore this morning around 10:25am EST after taking off from Westchester County Airport. The pilot made a Mayday call just before making the emergency landing and that call for help was heard by a commercial flight heading to JFK airport. They notified local FAA controllers and the rescue began. Shane and his passenger ended up in the water but both had life vests on. A kayaker rescued one of them while divers from the New York Police Department helped the others.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) described the incident as a crash but video from the scene showed the chopper resting on its pontoons, apparently not submerged. This chopper is designed to land in the water. Coast Guard officials confirmed that the pilot deployed the pontoons to allow the chopper to land safely. The Coast Guard also confirmed that the chopper had some sort of mechanical issue that prompted the emergency landing. NBC notes that this chopper is often used for training, tours and photography. There have been 39 crashes involving this type of chopper in the United States over the last 5 years and the National Transportation Safety Board has records of 221 crashes involving the Robinson R44 model from 1993 until now. 203 deaths were reported as a result of those crashes.
The FAA is investigating the crash as they always do but there were no injuries.
Below is local news video of the SmackDown Commissioner discussing the wreck. Shane says the accident was very unnerving but the pilot remained super calm, and that kept him super calm. Shane said they landed perfectly in the water.
WWE’s Shane McMahon rescued from helicopter that crash-landed into Atlantic Ocean https://t.co/MS4xkk0iNK pic.twitter.com/ynAaSPUNzh
— SI Extra Mustard (@SI_ExtraMustard) July 19, 2017
Below is more news footage from the scene:
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