A Seattle news helicopter was taking off from a downtown heliport. The helicopter has just finished refueling. The helicopter had just arrived from Covington, Washington, and planned to head to Renton. A routine takeoff that turns into a disaster. The helicopter then began to make unusual noises. Then they lost control and the helicopter started spinning counterclockwise. A complete 360 ​​degrees before pitching sideways. The helicopter then crashed right next to the Seattle Space Needle. Federal investigators plan to reconstruct the wreckage to find out what really happened. A news helicopter that crashed in Seattle and killed two people this week began spinning on takeoff before crashing into flames. The helicopter continued to rotate counterclockwise for approximately 360 degrees before banking forward into a nose-down attitude. The likely cause of this type of counterclockwise rotation is a tail rotor failure. An unacceptable number of helicopter accidents have occurred over the past decade. Since 2004, more than 1,600 accidents have claimed the lives of more than 500 people. This year alone, there have been 10 other helicopter accidents in the United States. The NTSB is concerned that these types of accidents will continue to occur if a concerted effort is not made to improve the safety of helicopter operations. The NTSB wants to understand what is happening to prevent it from happening again. The NTSB moved the wreckage to a hangar to rebuild the helicopter. Investigators are focusing on the helicopter's engine, airframe, pilot and environment. Several times a day, helicopters land and take off from the helipad above Seattle's Fisher Plaza. But this time it was different. A news helicopter fell to the ground and broke... middle of newspaper...... juries. The 37-year-old man was transported in critical condition to a local hospital. KOMO News remembered the victims killed in the crash. They were Bill Strothman, a longtime photographer for the television news network, retired but working as a freelancer, and pilot Gary Pfitzner. The pilot’s brother said: “He loved what he did, he loved flying. » A pilot and a photographer were killed when a KOMO news helicopter crashed into three vehicles. A third person was taken to hospital with serious burns. Richard Newman, 38 years old. , is at Harborview Medical Center in serious condition after the helicopter landed on his car. Susan Gregg says he has second- and third-degree burns on up to 20 percent of his body -- his back and arms. his head and a broken rib. He is sedated in the intensive care unit and will need surgery for the burns, but not immediately..