The pilot of a medical helicopter that crashed outside a Philadelphia church last week with four people, including a sick child, claimed he was a hero, instead crediting a higher power with the miraculous existence of all.
Daniel Moore told a crowd of well-wishers after leaving Penn Presbyterian Medical, ‘I had God as my co-pilot that day, and we looked after the crew and we landed in their front yard, so it’s great Was. Center in Philadelphia on a stretcher to be taken home on Sunday.
Moore had been in the hospital since last Tuesday when his helicopter crashed outside Drexel Hill United Methodist Church. Delaware County. All four people, including a 2-month-old baby girl, a nurse and a flight medic, made it through.
Incredibly, no one on the ground was injured, despite landing in a residential neighborhood about a block from local eateries and about a half mile from a school.
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Pilot Daniel Moore is pictured waving to a crowd of well-wishers after being discharged on Sunday, five days after a helicopter crash in Delaware County, Pennsylvania
Moore suffered multiple broken bones when the plane he was piloting with four people, including a sick infant being taken to a hospital, crashed outside a church.
Moore’s helicopter is seen resting on its side after its crash landing in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, on January 11
Moore said of the accident outside Drexel Hill United Methodist Church: ‘I had God as my co-pilot that day, and we looked after the crew and we landed in their front yard, so it was great Was. Was’
Moore, who has been flying helicopters for 27 years, suffered multiple injuries, including eight broken ribs, four vertebral fractures and a fractured sternum, and had surgery.
Others on the plane, including the child he was taking to Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia, were uninfected.
talking to good Morning America Moore told his home in Virginia on Monday that he did not remember what happened in the moments before and after the accident.
‘I remember flying. It was a beautiful day. After that I remember I was on cold ground,’ Moore said.
in a separate interview with Fox 29Opening his eyes, he recalled that a whole company of firefighters was watching him, which was ‘a great feeling’ for him.
The pilot insisted that the real heroes that day were his flight nurse, who pulled him out from under the helicopter, and Kevin Chaffee, his flight medic, who made sure the 2-month-old patient was able to capture and receive the fire extinguisher. was able to. Outside. It was safe before exiting. Flames engulfed the plane.
Moore also praised the first responders who arrived at the scene of the wreck to help survivors.
Speaking to GMA from his home in Virginia on Monday, Moore said he doesn’t remember the impact
A flight medic can be seen holding a baby in her arms as she exits the smoke debris
There was smoke outside the church after the plane hit the road and hit the building.
Passersby were stunned to see the helicopter miraculously emerge from the wreckage without the help of passengers.
Moore said, ‘I was just a lump on the ground and they were taking care of me.
Moore’s fiancée, Gail Miller, accompanied him on the ride home from the hospital on Friday and praised his actions, but also attributed the accident’s outcome to divine intervention.
He said, ‘What happened that day was nothing short of a miracle CBS Philadelphia, ‘When I talked to my kids, I told them that there were two pilots on that plane that day, Dan and God, and how he missed the church, the power lines. No one was injured on the field.
Video footage from local news outlets showed smoke billowing out of the helicopter as it lay in a residential neighbourhood.
Upper Darby Fire Chief Derrick Sawyer called it a ‘miraculous landing’ and said the community was ‘truly blessed’ by the result. Even the church looked largely safe.
A local man who was not working with his family said that his body was filled with panic as the helicopter landed directly on them.
Joshua James explained, ‘I actually froze for a second when it happened because I was just watching a helicopter CBS Philadelphia‘There’s no way to explain it. It’s almost like something out of Game of Thrones, you see a dragon approaching your car as it was literally in the sky, a big object coming towards you. it was crazy.
Witness Jarrell Saunders, who worked at a nearby apartment complex, said he saw that the helicopter was in trouble before the crash.
He said, ‘It was just floating, like a real low, extremely low, like it could land on the building I work at. ABC News,
Moments later, he saw the helicopter landed on the road and slammed into the church. He said that as soon as the smoke started coming out of the plane that fell down, the people on board started jumping.
He told the outlet, ‘I am telling my grandchildren about it.
Incredibly, no one on the ground was injured by the helicopter. The passengers and the pilot all suffered non-fatal injuries. The church did not appear to sustain significant damage in the accident.
Additional Darby Superintendent of Police Timothy M. Bernhardt said it was a “miracle” that none of the four people on board, including an infant patient, suffered life-threatening injuries.
The helicopter landed in a residential area, not far from residential houses, a school and local shops
Moore said Tuesday that he had the first accident in his 27-year career in aviation.
Air Methods, the aircraft’s owner, said in a statement that the twin-engined EC135 helicopter was based in Hagerstown, Maryland and was operated through a local medical service called Lifenet.
The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the cause of the accident.
“Our team will fully cooperate in their efforts to assess the cause of this unfortunate accident,” the statement said. ‘Privacy rights will be respected with respect to those on board the aircraft, and we will not share any additional information.’
The twin-engined EC135 helicopter was based in Hagerstown, Maryland and operated through a local medical service called Lifenet.