A helicopter crash-landed near the Cabana Blue Lakefront Sports Bar and Grill in St. Clair County's Clay Township yesterday, in what can only be described as a narrow escape for patrons and bystanders. According to CBS News Detroit, the privately owned aircraft, carrying four Canadians, failed to land successfully on a vacant lot beside the restaurant along Anchor Bay, and fortunately, there were no injuries reported either onboard or on the ground.
St. Clair County Emergency Director Justin Westmiller said people were within 200 feet of the crash, a distance that under other circumstances might not have been remote enough to keep them from harm's way, he also noted that some fuel leakage occurred post-incident, precautions such as turning off the batteries and the fuel supply have been taken to mitigate any further risk. It was mentioned by ClickOnDetroit that Clay Township police are investigating the cause of the crash. Meanwhile, the scene of the accident was captured in a video now circulating, which can be viewed online thanks to local submissions to the news outlet's HelpDesk.
The response to the incident indicates a potential jurisdictional void; the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board declined involvement due to the helicopter's Canadian registry, leaving questions open as to whether Canadian authorities will step in. The wreckage is expected to remain on site until at least Tuesday or Wednesday, posing a temporary yet uneasy reminder to those frequenting the lakeside locale.
In what could stand as a testament to both serendipity and the resilience of modern aviation, the Firehouse reports, the helicopter rolled during its landing attempt, symptomatic of a disturbance in an already delicate procedure, yet everyone aboard managed to walk away unscathed, and no one on the ground was injured.
