Witnesses describe helicopter crash at hangar in Woods Cross
Jun 13, 2025, 12:38 PM | Updated: 12:46 pm
A helicopter crashed during takeoff at a hangar in Woods Cross Friday, June 13, 2025. (Istvan Bartos, KSL TV)
(Istvan Bartos, KSL TV)
SALT LAKE CITY — A helicopter crashed during takeoff at a hangar in Woods Cross Friday morning.
Senior Officer Sean Jones with the Woods Cross Police Department said police received word of the crash at Skypark Airport at approximately 8:49 a.m.
According to Jones, initial information said the pilot clipped the hangar as he was leaving.
Jones said the aircraft was in “dozens and dozens of pieces,” but the pilot walked away with only a few scratches.
Jones said the pilot reported there was no mechanical failure, and noted there were no signs of impairment when speaking with the pilot. The National Transportation Safety Board would take over the investigation, because the helicopter was airborne at the time of the crash, Jones said.
After the crash, Jones said he was amazed nobody was injured, as one witness was filming and had “debris land within feet of him, striking the building.”
“A lot of people being looked over today,” Jones said.
Christian Galvan, a witness to the crash, said three of them were working when they heard the helicopter start to take off, “so we hurried up and got our cameras.”
Galvan told KSL TV that once they were recording, they all saw the helicopter hit the door, spin, and land on its side. Then, debris started flying.
KSL EXCLUSIVE: Eyewitness captured the moment a privately owned helicopter clipped a hangar door at Western Fab Hangar in Woods Cross today, sending it crashing to the ground. See the full video and hear his account of rushing to help the pilot at 5 & 6pm on @KSL5TV. pic.twitter.com/36NevrXZra
— Shara Park ✨ (@KSLSharaPark) June 13, 2025
“I think we were a safe distance away, and then I was holding (a) door open, so the door was kind of a shield to me,” Galvan said. “And we saw a piece hit three feet from where we were standing.”
Galvan said metal and debris went everywhere, and the noise was loud.
“First instinct was, ‘are we okay?'” Galvan said. “The next instinct, ‘was the pilot okay?'”
Galvan said the three of them ran to help the pilot, certain he would be injured.
“Luckily, he was okay too,” Galvan said, noting the pilot appeared to be in shock. Then, the three helped him out of the helicopter.
Trevor Hodge, another witness to the crash, said it all felt very lucky.
“I’m just glad that everybody’s okay,” Hodge said, noting the car was right under the helicopter debris.
Galvan said that after what they witnessed, they were all shaken up.
Contributing: Adam Small, KSL NewsRadio
This is a breaking story. It may be updated.
