A medical helicopter landed on the lawn of a home in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Monday night.
No one was injured in the emergency landing that happened just after 7:40 p.m. on Musket Road near Cannon Hill Road in Whitemarsh Township, officials said.
“We got very lucky tonight, it’s a miracle,” said Whitemarsh Police Chief Christopher Ward. “The pilot did an amazing job from all accounts. As out of control as it was, he controlled it into an area and was able to put it down without striking, luckily for us, any homes, any vehicles or any people.”
One person was in the house closest to the landing site when the aircraft came down, and some children and families were outside in the neighborhood at the time, Ward said. According to officials, no one was injured and no property was damaged except for where the helicopter landed.
The helicopter was flying from Penn Presbyterian Medical Center to Wings Field in Blue Bell for refueling before going to pick up a patient at a hospital in Chester County, officials said. Only three crew members were on board the helicopter at the time, and all were able to walk away from the aircraft.
The three people on board were taken to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center to be evaluated, according to the Penn spokesperson.
Chopper 3 was over the scene and captured the PennSTAR helicopter near a driveway.
The helicopter is owned and operated by Metro Aviation, the Penn Medicine spokesperson said. It’s part of Penn Medicine’s PennSTAR program, which provides transportation between medical centers for critical patients and offers on-scene care during emergencies.
A team from the Federal Aviation Administration arrived at the scene a few hours after the landing and is taking over the investigation. Authorities will leave the helicopter where it is in the yard until the investigation is complete.
Francis Ford, who lives in the neighborhood, said he heard the helicopter coming down.
“It’s pretty crazy,” he said, adding that he’s a student pilot. “The pilots did a really good job, I think they definitely knew what they were doing. I think that they deserve a lot of credit for keeping everybody safe and for everything that they do as well.”
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