PG&E Bell helicopter crashes at training site
Two people injured in crash; both are expected to survive
LIVERMORE >> A helicopter crashed Wednesday morning at one at a Pacific Gas & Electric training site, injuring the pilot and a man suspended from the aircraft by a cable as part of a training exercise, authorities said.
The crash happened about 9:55 a.m. at the facility on the 7200 block of National Drive, according to Azenith Smith, a Livermore police spokesperson. The facility is on the west side of town just north of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, in an area marked by several factories and industrial buildings.
The pilot, as well as a person hanging from the aircraft by a cable, were injured in the wreck, said Peter Knudson, a spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board. Both were taken to a hospital complaining of pain, Smith said; their injuries were not believed to be life-threatening.
In a statement, PG&E said that the helicopter — a Bell 407, operated by a contractor — was taking part in a training exercise at its Livermore Training Facility when it crashed in a parking lot next to some PG&E training poles. It added that “the safety of our customers, communities and coworkers is PG&E's primary responsibility.”
Officials did not offer any more details on what preceded or may have caused the crash, , which was under investigation by the NTSB
The training facility sits on a 35-acre campus along National Drive in Livermore. It's where newly hired employees are trained to become line workers, according to the utility provider's website. The facility includes numerous 40-foot poles that trainees must learn to climb, along with a gravel training area the size of 10 football fields.
The helicopter appeared to come to rest east of a helicopter landing pad on the campus, said Pat Krausgrill, who works next door as a safety officer for Jifco and saw the aftermath of the crash.
Helicopters can routinely be seen flying over the training site — hoisting power line workers into the air from a cable suspended from the bottom of the aircraft, Krausgrill said. Often, the helicopters practice lowering workers onto the myriad training power poles on the sprawling campus.
Krausgrill said he saw such maneuvers being performed earlier on Wednesday morning.
“That's our biggest fear, is that we're in a pretty densely populated industrial area and I have a lot of guys who work outdoors, and it's kind of nervewracking seeing the maneuvers that they do with guys on the line,” Krausgrill said. “I'm just glad that no one was seriously hurt.”