#helicopter-crash

#helicopter-crash

Just minutes after a medical helicopter crashed onto a California highway, Sacramento Fire Capt. Peter Vandersluis found himself directing an impromptu response team of about 15 drivers to lift the wreckage off a paramedic trapped underneath. When Vandersluis shouted "lift," they raised the aircraft. When he ordered "hold," they kept it elevated. "Just out of instinct - the people were there willing to help, and they didn't hesitate and followed my exact commands," Vandersluis told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

A large-scale response is underway after a medical helicopter crashed onto a freeway in Sacramento Monday evening.

"We have been in pain for the last 11 days, but they will always remain in our memories and remind us from up high to never lose our ability to smile," Montal's father, Joan Camprubí, said during the nearly two-hour service.

"We have been in pain for the last 11 days, but they will always remain in our memories and remind us from up high to never lose our ability to smile," said Joan Camprubí. "The Pope believed in the transformative power of a 'smile and a sense of humor.'"

The helicopter that broke apart mid-flight and plunged into the Hudson near Jersey City last week, killing the pilot and a family of five, flew more than 8,000 missions in the New York area during the last five and a half years, according to a flight history database compiled by the aviation consultancy FlightAware.

"We are really shocked. I was shaking," said Melissa Maertem, 23, who is visiting Manhattan from the Netherlands with her partner, Melissa Bos, 24. "It could have been us."

New York Helicopter Tours is ceasing operations immediately following a fatal crash, as the FAA begins an urgent review of their safety practices.