'All you could see was fire': Australian woman dies in Hawaii chopper crash
An Australian woman has been killed in a helicopter crash in Hawaii.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirmed it was offering consular assistance to her family but no other details about the woman have been made available.
The helicopter crashed on a two-lane road in a residential part of Kailua, a town of 50,000 people about a 30-minute drive from downtown Honolulu on Monday local time.
All three people on board were killed.
"All you could see was fire," witness Melissa Solomon said, explaining that she was driving on the street when she looked up to see flames and a helicopter plummeting in front of her.
She said she had to turn onto another street because she was afraid more pieces were going to fall from the sky onto her and her 16-year-old daughter sitting in the front passenger seat.
"We could have been smashed by it," she said.
Paramedics responding to an unrelated call from a patient with leg pain about 30 metres away heard "a horrific bang," said Shayne Enright, a spokeswoman for Honolulu Emergency Medical Services. When they turned around, they saw a helicopter on fire.
"When they got there, neighbours were doing a heroic job trying to put out the fire and also trying to get the patients away from the burning aircraft," Mr Enright said.
Darel Robinson was doing construction work at a house about 800 metres from the crash site when he heard what sounded like helicopter blades thumping and then a loud boom.
"It was going nose down and parts were starting to fly off," he said.
Megan Lacy, of Alabama, was visiting friends when they heard the crash. They went outside, expecting to find two cars after they had hit each other.
"We were really confused," Ms Lacy said. "And then we heard screaming and the word 'fire,' and I saw smoke," she said. Debris damaged her rental car about 100 metres from the crash.
A resident said he heard the morning crash then saw a ball of fire in a road when he ran from his house.
Leleo Knappenberger told Hawaii News Now that his mother heard the helicopter flying over the house, making a strange noise.
He said he later saw what appeared to be the tail end of the helicopter, a four-seat, Robinson R44 aircraft.
"It's all smashed to pieces," he said.
US Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said the circumstances of the crash were unknown.
The helicopter, which was built in 2000, is registered to United Helicopter Leasing LLC of Honolulu.
When contacted by the Associated Press, a woman at the business who identified herself as Nicole declined to immediately comment, saying she was too busy to talk.
A website for the Honolulu tour helicopter company Novictor Helicopters identified Nicole Vandelaar as founder and chief executive. The website said she is an expert pilot commercially licensed to fly helicopters and airplanes.
A Novictor helicopter crashed on a sandbar in Kaneohe in October after the pilot lost consciousness twice. That crash resulted in injuries to the pilot and two passengers. It was also a Robinson R44 aircraft.
With AP