The private helicopter that made a forced landing on the highway full of cars, avoiding a bridge and landing on the median of the M-40 in Madrid without hitting any vehicle, suffered the accident due to “a gust of wind.” This has been indicated by the Government delegate, Francisco Martín. The city’s mayor, José Luis Martínez Almeida, expressed hours before that “the pilot’s skill has prevented a much greater tragedy.”
The pilot managed to perform a forced landing maneuver in the median to the surprise of the drivers on one of the busiest ring roads at that time of the morning, ten twenty. “The pilot started going down the M-40 and tried to make a maneuver because he saw that he was crashing into the bridge and went under it, trying not to fall on the road because there was a lot of traffic,” said one of the witnesses, in statements. to Europa Press.
Despite the spectacular accident, the occupants of the helicopter have not suffered serious injuries. One of them even got out of the aircraft on his own and the other had to be rescued by the City Hall Firefighters. Both have been transferred by Samur-Civil Protection to a hospital with one of them mild head trauma and the other with a possible femur fracture.
A driver has also been injured, whose vehicle has suffered the impact of part of the helicopter’s fuselage on the windshield and one of the windows. The glass has caused minor cuts.
The firefighters have carried out a risk control after verifying that there had been no fuel spill, while the Civil Guard has taken charge of road safety in the area.
The helicopter, yellow in color with the registration F-HPUX, had taken off from Ifema Madrid and managed to make a forced landing in the median of the M-40, at kilometer 5,500, near the Campo de las Unidas. “It was a helicopter that came from an exhibition that was being held at Ifema. Its destination was Cuatro Vientos,” indicated Martínez-Almeida.
Traffic has been greatly affected as traffic had to be cut off one lane in each direction so that the emergency services could work and to facilitate the removal of the helicopter when deemed necessary.