Hard helicopter landing injures 4 in Beijing

The newspaper quoted sources with knowledge of the accident as saying that the pilot executed an emergency landing away from residential buildings after experiencing mechanical malfunctioning. The company has set up a team to investigate the incident, according to the report.

Wu Peixin, an aviation industry observer in Beijing, said that helicopters normally have no parachutes or other escape devices because they usually fly close to the ground, and the spinning rotors present a grave danger to anyone jumping out. "It seems to me that the pilot handled the emergency rather well, because the helicopter didn't crash too violently," Wu said.