Helicopter Service
The building previously had helicopter service to Pan Am's terminal at John F. Kennedy International Airport, a 7-to-10-minute flight from the rooftop helipad. The New York Airways Vertol 107 flights lasted from December 21, 1965, to February 18, 1968; Sikorsky S-61 flights operated for a few months in 1977, ending after an accident atop the building killed five people.
On May 16, 1977, about one minute after a Sikorsky S-61L landed and its 20 passengers disembarked, the right front landing gear collapsed, causing the aircraft to topple onto its side with the rotors still turning. One of the five 20-foot blades broke off and flew into a crowd of passengers waiting to board. Three men, including film director Michael Findlay, were killed instantly and another man died later in a hospital. The blade sailed over the side of the building and killed a pedestrian on the corner of Madison Avenue and 43rd Street. Two other people were seriously injured.
Read more about this topic: MetLife Building
Famous quotes containing the word service:
“The ability to think straight, some knowledge of the past, some vision of the future, some skill to do useful service, some urge to fit that service into the well-being of the community,—these are the most vital things education must try to produce.”
—Virginia Crocheron Gildersleeve (1877–1965)