The Fall of the KXJB Tower on This Day in History

The second tallest man-made structure in the western hemisphere, the 2,060 feet tall KXJB Tower at Galesburg, North Dakota, near Fargo, was accidentally knocked down by a U.S. Marine Corps helicopter that was on a training flight from Grand Forks Air Force Base on this day in 1968. All four men on the helicopter were killed after the aircraft struck a supporting guy-wire and then the television tower itself. Fargo's CBS affiliate, KXJB Channel 4 (now KRDK-TV), went off the air for 8 days. The tower had been second in height only to the nearby KTHI tower, which was 2,068 feet tall.

The tower fell again on April 6, 1997 during an ice storm, subjecting it to wind gusts of 70 mph and causing at least four inches of ice to accumulate on the structure.

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A Helicopter Decapitation on This Day in History

 

This Day in History: Salvator Disi, 62, was decapitated on this day in 2019 while using a power cart to jump start a helicopter in Hernando County, Florida. Its unexpected up-and-down motion caused the rotor blades to strike him.

This kind of fatality is rare, but it does happen. A woman, while on vacation in Las Vegas, exited a tour helicopter while the blades were still spinning. Her hat blew off because of the down wash from the blades. She frantically tried to retrieve her hat and while doing so she ran into the tail rotors. She was killed instantly.

One British man was decapitated by a helicopter tail rotor while "taking a selfie" earlier this year. Source

The most famous case of decapitation by helicopter blades happened on the set of the Twilight Zone movie in 1982. They were filming at night in difficult terrain and three people were killed (two were decapitated) when the pilot couldn’t control the helicopter during the simulated explosions going on all around him. One was actor Vic Morrow and the other two were children he was holding at the time. It was a stupid, senseless accident all because the director wanted a night shot. The children were on set in violation of child labor laws as well. 

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A Helicopter Accident on This Day in History

 

This Day in History: On this day (May 16) in 1977, "a rotor blade broke off a helicopter on the roof of Manhattan’s Pan Am Building after the copter’s landing gear failed, causing it to turn sideways. The blade killed five people. The New York Times reported: 'Whirling like a giant boomerang, the blade struck four people on the roof-top madding pad, killing three instantly, then plunged over the skyscraper’s west parapet. About halfway down the gray tower, the blade crashed into a window and broke in two. One piece of the blade continued to fall, whirling onto Madison Avenue and killing a woman.'” Source

Perhaps the most well-known helicopter accident happened on the set of the Twilight Zone movie. In the early morning hours of July 23, 1982, actors Vic Morrow and seven-year-old Myca Dinh Le, and six-year-old Renee Shin-Yi Chen, were filming on location in California, in an area that was known as Indian Dunes, near Santa Clarita. The helicopter was hovering at approximately 24 feet above them when the heat from special effect pyrotechnic explosions reportedly delaminated the rotor blades and caused the helicopter to crash on top of them, killing all three instantly. Morrow and Le were decapitated and mutilated by the helicopter rotor blades, while Chen was crushed by a helicopter strut.

More recently, basketball great Kobe Bryant and 8 other passengers including his daughter were killed in a helicopter crash in 2020 while flying in heavy fog. Safety experts say that despite the publicity that such accidents draw, helicopter transportation has a good safety record, better than that of small private planes.

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Grand Canyon Deaths on This Day in History

 

This Day in History: Greg Austin Gingrich fell to his death in the Grand Canyon on this day in 1992. 38-year-old Gingrich was vacationing at the Grand Canyon in Coconino County, Arizona, with his teenage daughter, when he began to play-act losing his balance to frighten her. Gingrich leaped atop a guard wall and began wind-milling his arms in an exaggerated manner, then "comically" fell from the wall on the canyon side onto a short slope where he assumed he would land safely. His daughter, unimpressed with his antics, walked on. Gingrich, however, missed his footing and fell approximately 400 feet into the canyon to his death.

"The Grand Canyon averages 12 deaths each year; Colburn’s death is the park’s 18th so far in 2021. The most common causes of death are from airplane crashes, falls, and dangerous environmental conditions such as overheating or drowning. In total, around 275 people have died from airplane crashes over the Canyon, but 128 of those deaths come from a single tragedy in 1956. Two planes collided midair, which became the deadliest aerial crash in the United States at that time." Source

People often die falling in the Grand Canyon while taking selfies or horsing around or while urinating into the canyon or simply being drunk. Some people fall due to dizziness. 

There have been about 91 suicides in the Grand Canyon. Most of these are people jumping off the ledge, but 13 of these suicides happen when someone drives their vehicle off the ledge. "Three of these occurred in one year, 1993. This came on the heels of the film Thelma & Louis...In the movie’s final scene, the two protagonists drive their vehicle off the ledge of the canyon. We know that at least one of the women who died watched that movie over 50 times and was determined to recreate the event. Her name was Patricia Astolfo, and she drove her suburban off the ledge. However, it got high centered on a rock, preventing her from falling into the canyon. So she got out of her vehicle, walked to the ledge, and jumped. Only she landed on another ledge 15 feet below. Injured, she crawled to another ledge and jumped. Only she landed on another ledge 25 feet below. Still determined, she crawled to another ledge and fell, this time falling a fatal 75 feet." Source 

One man actually leaped out of a helicopter while on an aerial tour of the canyon. He fell 4000 feet to his death.

There is an interactive map of all the lives lost at the Grand Canyon

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