Helicopter crash in Rowlett captured on cellphone video

Two people have died, including the pilot, after a helicopter crashed and caught fire in Rowlett on Friday morning, officials said.

Initially, the Federal Aviation Administration said the pilot was the only person onboard the aircraft. Friday afternoon, Rowlett police tweeted that a second person was confirmed dead.

The pilot nor the second victim have been identified at this time.

The crash happened near the 2200 block of Lakeview Parkway, near Dexham Road, in an open lot surrounded by businesses.

Rowlett is just east of Garland in northeast Dallas County.

The FAA said the crash happened around 11:30 a.m. The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the crash, with the NTSB taking the lead.

[yacobmacias]

couldn’t even imagine being in that situation...having no control over anything...knowing you’re going to die...I’m sure it all happened so quickly but slow at the same time. RIP

[FredtheDorfDorfman]

That sickly feeling of watching an aircraft going down, knowing people are going to die, and there’s nothing you can do to help.

[ogswanger]

This is so heart wrenching, I couldn't imagine going through anything like this. Even witnessing this would be terrifying. My heart goes out to all involved

[PearlJamAndBiscuits]

That must have been terrifying for the people on board. Condolences to their families 🙏

[obsidian]

That's a long, very silent fall to the ground. The only thing you'll hear is the engine revving and the air and seeing the ground come up to meet you. A pilot's worst nightmare. No way to autorotate.

[sasktaildraggerpilot]

RIP my heart goes out to the family’s and to the loss of pilots, from one pilot to another

[douglaslang]

That must have been terrifying. Knowing the only hope you had was that he somehow would have corrected it. Horrible

[isaacfox]

The names of the two on board were Lora Trout age 31 and Ty Wallis age 42. Rest In Peace. We send love and prayers to your family.

[quinlanharper]

That’s crazy I can’t believe you caught that on film. I’ve been looking for a video that shows exactly what happened and this is probably the cleanest. It’s too bad that happened, prayers going out for the pilots family.

[irgski]

What a terrible situation when you know the end is near.
RIP

[cmtippens]

Condolences to the family(-ies) of the pilot and the passenger. How scared they must have been in those final moments. 😥

[csmith]

Just the worst... that pilot went to work (like we do everyday) and had no idea it would be his last day on earth. Just to think everything is normal then suddenly you are in this type of situation. It must be so unbelievable. While you fight to survive, you also try to comprehend what is actually happening. At the same time, you can't believe it is actually happening. Just the worst...

[xxtwobitxx]

Holy moly, for someone who works in the aviation business my heart sinks when i see any air disasterlike this. Just from this short video you can see what looks like the tail rotor completely torn off the tail boom.
My prayers go out to the two lost lives, and my condolences to the families affected by this.

[mysterymayhem]

the fear the occupants must have felt. oh my.

[RydersRacing]

"oh theyre dead" such a sad thing to see, as someone who is part of aviation i give my full condolences to the families and everybody involved in this horrible accident.

[rogerd]

Oh wow. Prayers for the crews families

[perm]

Rip to the pilot and passenger. For people wondering how it happened with the Robison helicopters if you apply too much force to the cyclic you can actually push the blades past their limits and they bend and cut off the tail rotor. That had already happened at this point and as you see in the video the blades were stressed further and cut even more of the tail off before their tragic end.

[Randyet]

A female flight instructor and a male student who was under instruction to obtain a helicopter rating died in the crash. R.I.P. to them both.

[agreement-disengaged]

Rest in peace to everyone who lost their lives to this tragedy. Prayers to their families.

[mrtony]

So sad. Can't imagine how scared and helpless they felt before they crashed. RIP to both people who were in there.