NTSB analyzing video footage of South Side helicopter crash

National Transportation Safety Board investigators have recovered video footage taken of a helicopter crash on the South Side last weekend.

Those investigators have recovered video from an onboard camera that was mounted over the pilot’s shoulder and was pointed at the aircraft instruments and out the front window, NTSB spokesman Peter Knudson said Monday.

Separate video was also recovered from a Chicago transit facility near the crash site that recorded the helicopter coming out of the sky, Knudson said.

The flight originated from St. Mary Medical Center in Hobart, Indiana, and was headed to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, Knudson said.

He couldn’t provide any medical condition updates on the four aboard who were injured.

The red helicopter crashed into a grassy field about 9:15 p.m. just feet off the roadway near the junction connecting Interstate 57 and the Bishop Ford Freeway.

The air ambulance pilot, a flight nurse and a paramedic all were able to exit the helicopter after the crash. Chicago firefighters removed the fourth occupant, a medical patient who was being transported to a Chicago-area hospital, authorities said.

Two people were taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, and two others were taken to University of Chicago Medical Center, a Chicago Fire Department spokesman said Sunday. They were all listed in serious to critical condition; the conditions of three of the people have since been stabilized.

The helicopter’s rotor blades remained intact as the aircraft landed on its belly, according to Chicago Fire Department Deputy District Chief Lynda Turner.

The aircraft was smoking, but it didn’t catch fire, Turner said at a news conference held Saturday night.

“The pilot did an excellent job of landing a helicopter that was in an emergency situation,” she said.