Couple walk away after copter crash

A Black Country councillor and his wife had a miraculous escape when they were involved in a 500ft death- defying helicopter crash.

Great Bridge councillor Peter Allen took his wife Diane on the holiday-of-a-lifetime cruise to Hawaii in celebration of her 60th birthday.

But on a helicopter trip around the island of Maui, the engine failed as they were 500ft high in the air and the chopper crash-landed into a field of sugar cane. None of the six passengers were injured.

The pilot then had to climb on top of the helicopter so the emergency service rescuers could find them. The green leaves of the sugar beet were higher than the top of the helicopter.

Councillor Allen, of Highfield Road, Tipton, said: "All was well on the flight, until the latter part towards the air strip, when at 500 ft up the helicopter ran into difficulties and was forced to crash land in a field of sugar cane.

"The pilot said that we had engine failure and he did an heroic job in bringing us and the helicopter down in one piece and we landed with a very severe jolt, somewhat akin to a car crash."

The other passengers, a couple from Solihull and a couple from America, as well as the pilot, were left "very shaken" but otherwise completely unharmed after the crash, which happened last Monday. Councillor Allen added: "Being in the middle of a sugar cane field that was taller than the helicopter meant that we were somewhat hidden.

"We could hear them long before they got to us. I would fly in a helicopter again, but I'm not too sure whether my wife would," he said.