Hughes 300 uten halerotor - Trouble....

Pilot crashes helicopter through fence into parking lot

LEALMAN, Florida - Emergency crews and witnesses say it's hard to believe the pilot of a Hughes 300 Helicopter walked away with only scratches after his aircraft fell out of the sky Tuesday in the middle of a neighborhood off 46th Avenue North in Lealman.

"His story is, he was working on the helicopter lifting it off the ground to rotate it," said Captain Jim Millican of the Lealman Fire District. "Somehow he lost his tail rotor and when he lost the tail rotor it crashed into the fence."

Witnesses a block away say they were surprised to see a helicopter taking off from the area, and were even more shocked when it started crashing down.

"It was going up, started hovering, started twisting and turning and was almost sideways when it was coming down," said mechanic Joe Milano, who was with customers when he saw the copter in trouble.