LOS ANGELES—A Southern California news helicopter with a smoking engine had to make an emergency landing in an empty Hollywood parking lot. The Los Angeles Fire Department says the helicopter from KTLA-TV landed safely Monday evening, and the two people on board were not hurt. The smoke came from an apparent oil leak, and there was no fire.
The helicopter landed in a parking lot near a senior center.
Pilot Tim Lynn told his TV station that another pilot from a KCBS-TV helicopter first saw the smoke and alerted him. The smoke eventually began coming into the cockpit, but Lynn was able to maintain good control of the helicopter.
Lynn says he first considered landing in a high school football stadium before spotting the empty lot.
