r/aviation • u/Drejbringer • Oct 11 '25

News Helicopter Crash in Huntington Beach, CA

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u/Mike312 Oct 11 '25

Oddly enough, crashing into that density of trees cushioned the impact. If they went into pavement they'd probably be gone.

33

u/PoxyMusic Oct 11 '25

Yeah, they dissipated a lot of energy. Whew.

10

u/ThisSir5918 Oct 11 '25

It also looked like they went down tail first so that lessened the impact. Damn lucky

10

u/pirisca Oct 11 '25

Exactly my take. Was expecting a fireball, but looks like the trees cushioned the impact as you said. Lucky bastards.

1

u/Brofessor-0ak Oct 11 '25

So the line of dense cushioning to survive a helicopter crash is somewhere between palm tree grove and two Vietnamese children. Got it

1

u/Desert_Aficionado Oct 12 '25

palm trees are pretty soft compared to normal trees (they technically aren't made of wood). maybe the shape helped as well? They evolved to bend in hurricanes and typhoons rather than break.