MARCH 2022. Blues Vol 38 No. 3

AROUND THE COUNTRY
HELICOPTER CRASH
Huntington Beach Police are mourning the loss of
one of their when one of their helicopters crashed
in Newport Harbor, killing Officer Nicholas Vella.
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. — Investigators
are still trying to
determine the cause of a Huntington
Beach Police helicopter
crash in Newport Harbor that
killed one officer and injured
another.
The officer who died in the
Saturday, February 19th crash,
was identified as 44-year-old
veteran Officer Nicholas Vella,
according to the Huntington
Beach Police Department. Vella
was the observer at the time of
the crash.
The pilot, who has not yet been
identified, was released from the
hospital the day after the crash.
Jennifer Carey, the Huntington
Beach spokeswoman, said the
wreckage was pulled from the
water late Sunday afternoon.
The National Transportation
Safety Board is the lead agency
investigating the accident,
and the Orange County Sheriff
‘s Department ‘s Major Accident
Reconstruction Team will be
conducting its own investigation,
Carey said.
The pilot made a brief call to
report that the helicopter was
experiencing
mechanical
issues, before
calling again
to say that
they were going
to crash,
said NTSB
spokesperson
Elliott Simpson
during a
Sunday news
conference.
“Right now, it
appears to be
a nose-down
descent into
the water, “
Simpson said.
The cause
of the crash
will be determined
at
the end of
the NTSB’s
investigation,
which could take 12 to 18
months, NTSB spokesperson Eric
Weiss said.
“We look at not only what
happened, but we try to figure
out why it happened, “ Weiss
said, explaining that the agency’s
investigative process looks at
human, machine and environmental
factors. “By figuring out
why it happened, you can maybe
prevent future accidents.”
A Huntington Beach Police helicopter is lifted out of the water in Newport Beach, Calif.
Huntington Beach Police Chief
Eric Parra described Vella as “an
officer that was truly dedicated
to the job and was doing what
he loved doing.” Vella was a 16-
year veteran of the force and had
previously worked as a police
officer in Laguna Beach, Parra
said.
One witness described the craft
as clearly in distress and at least
partly out of control just before
landing in the water about 10 to
20 feet offshore. The helicopter,
called HB1, went down in the
vicinity of the Lido Peninsula,
according to the flight- tracker
website adsbexchange.com.
The helicopter had been dispatched
from Huntington Beach,
Parra said, on a “disturbance
fight call “ from Newport Beach,
which contracts for aerial assistance
as needed with the neighboring
city.
The call about the crash came
in about 6:30 p.m. Saturday,
Carey said. Newport Beach police
were monitoring the radio
broadcast and had help at the
scene “instantaneously, “ said
Newport Beach Police Chief Jon
T. Lewis, who also was at the
news conference.
A witness described the minutes
leading up to the crash.
“We were driving over here,
and we heard the pitch of the
helicopter, “ the unidentified
witness told KCAL-TV Channel 9
news. “And it sounded like a helicopter
was in distress. And then
when we looked at the helicopter,
it was out of control. And it
was obvious that the helicopter
was going to go down. And it did
go down and almost immediately
sunk.”
Video recorded at the scene
shows the craft lying on its side,
mostly submerged, as rescuers
worked frantically to free the
officers. One officer was able to
emerge quickly and walk away
with assistance onto the beach.
Getting to the second took longer.
Both were transported to
local hospitals.
The Huntington Beach Police
Department has three helicopters
and typically keeps one
in operation 24 hours a day.
The two other aircraft will be
grounded pending an inspection
and the preliminary investigation,
Parra said.
“This is truly a really heartbreaking
time for all of us here
in Huntington Beach, “ Mayor
Barbara Delgleize said. “Our
community values our police
department, and the loss of an
officer hits us all really hard.”
The Huntington Beach Police
Department Air Support Unit
was formed in 1968. Huntington
Beach was the first city in Orange
County and the fifth in the nation
to use helicopters for public
safety service, according to the
city.
18 The BLUES POLICE MAGAZINE The BLUES POLICE MAGAZINE 19