The pilot whose helicopter spun out of control and crashed near a Huntington Beach pedestrian bridge on a busy Saturday afternoon is an aviation influencer famous for his daring stunts.
Eric Nixon was piloting the helicopter when it crashed, his father-in-law, Jerry Miller of Redlands, confirmed in a brief interview on Saturday night.
“He’s in the hospital with some broken ribs, crushed vertebrae and several bruises,” Miller said.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the cause of the crash. Videos circulating online showed a potential problem with the tail rotor, which appeared to be ejected as the helicopter lost control.
“Eric Nixon – a self-styled aviation enthusiast known to thousands online for his heart-stopping stunts – has spent years posting footage of himself performing jaw-dropping maneuvers across the skies of the American West,” the Daily Mail reported late Saturday night.
“His Instagram account is filled with adrenaline-pumping clips of low-altitude dashes, tight turns, and desert skims … in one recent post, Nixon can be seen hurtling across a desert floor barely 20 feet above ground level with a truck speeding toward him from the opposite direction,” the Mail wrote.
Many of Nixon’s videos, the report continued, feature him “threading between palm trees, banking over beaches, or roaring past friends on dirt buggies in the Baja Nevada desert, often sometimes just feet from the ground.”
In addition to Nixon and another person in the helicopter with him, a child and two adults were injured on the ground. All five were hospitalized. Officials have not released their names or details about their injuries.
A GoFundMe is seeking donations to help the family of Oliver Holland, a boy who was “enjoying a day at the beach when suddenly a helicopter malfunctioned and came crashing down on him.
“He is currently in the hospital receiving surgery; he has a collapsed lung and brain bleed. We are praying for a safe recovery …” the GoFundMe says.
The crash occurred at 2:09 p.m. on the 21000 block of Pacific Coast Highway in a beach parking lot between Twin Dolphins Drive and Beach Boulevard.
The chopper was a 1980 Bell 222 helicopter that took off from Redlands Municipal Airport, the Aviation Safety Network reported.
“Several videos captured the helicopter went out of control on approach when it experienced a loss of tail-rotor effectiveness … Very soon after, video footage shows a sudden burst on the starboard side while debris could be seen ejected from the airframe and descending to the ground before the helicopter impact,” the report stated.
The videos, many taken by bystanders at the beach, showed the helicopter spinning until it wound up lodged in palm trees near a hotel where the Waterfront Beach Resort and Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Resort and Spa are located.
A “helicopter landing party” preview to Sunday’s Cars ‘N Copters on the Coast event was taking place in the beach parking lots in front of the hotels.
Car ‘N Copters is going on as planned on Sunday.