In the news

Has a helicopter every crashed in Central London. I can't remember ever hearing of this before.

Aircraft.... yes.
Not sure about helicopters specifically.

There's so much air traffic over the city that unfortunately it was just a matter of time.

Met Police has stated 2 dead, 9 injured. (One of which critical)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21040313

That's not really true though is it - that one was going to Battersea Helipad - they're directed to use the river for navigation, so fly over the river

What looks like tail wing section of helicopter on roof of building

The fog and the crane doesn't help either, saw the aftermate on the way back after seeing the explosion on the way in (from a distance).

Looks like it caught the tip of jib.

Why are people in a tizzy over horse meat in their burgers?

What do you expect if you buy some cheap ground up pink slime?

Is a suprise that any meat was found in these horrible products.

What I don't get it that anyone would but their burgers with horse meat, given that horse meat is more expensive than cow meat.

It is now that we really see the pointlessness of 24hr rolling news.

The story is no longer breaking, or developing.
Yet there are 10s of channels broadcasting live from the site saying ABSOLUTELY NOTHING of any worth.

we just need more disasters

it's not the broadcasters fault

Mutterings upon the Twitter that the crane had been seen without it's warning lights switched on at least once before.

It is now that we really see the pointlessness of 24hr rolling news.

The story is no longer breaking, or developing.
Yet there are 10s of channels broadcasting live from the site saying ABSOLUTELY NOTHING of any worth.

On no...
My mistake.

The BBC have just unleashed the following breaking news.

"we can report that terrorism is not believed to be a factor in this incident"

Thank christ for that.

Mutterings upon the Twitter that the crane had been seen without it's warning lights switched on at least once before.

Let the finger pointing begin.

I see that Sparkes is now on the case of the Helicopter...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/aviation/9805113/Helicopter-crash-in-London-live.html

^^ TV license funding ground breaking reporting shocker

It is now that we really see the pointlessness of 24hr rolling news.

The story is no longer breaking, or developing.
Yet there are 10s of channels broadcasting live from the site saying ABSOLUTELY NOTHING of any worth.

It helps bury stories like this.

I see that Sparkes is now on the case of the Helicopter...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/aviation/9805113/Helicopter-crash-in-London-live.html

go sparky

Mutterings upon the Twitter that the crane had been seen without it's warning lights switched on at least once before.

It was on last night.

.

Don't worry, I image they'll re-open at some point under the auspices of G4S.

Knightsbridge and Pimlico stations both to close, Chelsea to also lose one engine...

Madness...

Just last night I was riding down that way, and was pleased to see that the London Heliport that I have only seen in old Sweeney and New Avengers episodes still existed. And riding back I noticed the tall white cranes, and thought "that's an accident waiting to happen"

Well why didn't you tell anyone!

^ Prophet Quinn.

'2/2 - Once again when tested London's emergency services have responded superbly' @MayorofLondon

^^^ Or, you know, we could just not jump to conclusions and let the CAA investigation run its course?

It's highly likely that the fog had much more to do with it than the location of the crane.
Pilots should have been aware of the crane as a NOTAM (Notice To Airmen) was issued over a week ago. The approach into EGLW is an approach under Visual Flight Rules (VFR), which means the pilot doesn't have any automatic systems flying the helicopter, it's done visually and the aircraft is controlled by the pilot.

VFR is permitted by the CAA in VMC (Visual Metreological Conditions - i.e. if you can see, and it's not too foggy) - makes sense, right. Reports suggest this fog came down quickly, and the pilot had requested a diversion from a planned route which didn't include Battersea, so it seems likely the request to divert was due to a worsening of the VMC, and the pilot was presented with far from ideal flying conditions (a VFR approach through fog in a busy city with tall buildings would definitely involve increased pilot workload).

The VFR mimima (how far you need to be able to see) for helicopters in the UK is 1500m.

The flight path for the approach to EGLW is up the river and onto the helipad which sticks out into the river. There's therefore no reason I can see why the helicopter involved in the crash should have been so close to the south bank of the Thames. It should also have been higher at that point - at least 800ft (I believe the height of the crane was 700 and something).

All that said, the pilot could have been incapacitated, there could have been a mechanical failure...

Who knows.