LEESBURG, Fla. — As the National Transportation Safety Board continues with its investigation into a helicopter crash Tuesday that killed four people, the employee of a local car dealership who saw the aircraft go down said it will be forever etched in his mind.

“It was freaky, freaky is all I can say of it,” said Mark Carter, parts manager at Plaza Cadillac, which is located across the street from the airport.

What You Need To Know

  • Plaza Cadillac parts manager witnessed the helicopter crash in Leesburg 

  • The aircraft had a big bucket on the bottom, and the tail dropped, Mark Carter says

  • The chopper went into a tailspin, and the tail broke off, Carter says

  • Witness watches flights daily and says he's never seen an incident like that 

Carter, who has worked at the dealership in Leesburg for nearly 25 years, said, “My reaction was basically shock because of all my years watching the airport, working next to the airport, I’ve never seen anything like this.”

From his window in the parts department, Carter is used to watching the comings and goings at the Leesburg Airport.

“I’m always watching the firefighter helicopters doing their practice runs,” Carter said. “They have their buckets of water and everything. There’s a lake on the other side of the runway that they pick the water up from and do their practice runs.”

When he looked out his window Tuesday, Carter saw tragedy struck. 

“I saw the helicopter had a big bucket on the bottom, and the next thing you know, the tail tipped down and looked like it was losing control,” Carter said. “It went into a tailspin. I saw the tail crack off, go in one direction. The body of the helicopter went in the other direction, and that’s it. Next thing you know, I saw smoke.”

Less than a minute after that, Carter heard sirens, he said.

“After the smoke started coming over the buildings, firetruck after firetruck, ambulances came down the highway headed for the airport,” Carter said.

He didn’t call 911 because he saw help was on the way. But he said he knew the situation could be serious. 

“Anything loses control like that in midair, you worry about what’s going on, people inside,” Carter said. “It’s not a drone. It had people in there. I didn’t realize just how bad it was ‘til I saw the news this morning. If it was somebody I knew, I’d probably be in tears right now.”

The owner of Firehawks Helicopters, Chuck Brainerd, said he was not ready to comment yet.