Pilot is arrested after helicopter crashes into the side of pub by a canal

The pilot of a helicopter which smashed into a pub along the bank of a canal in Ireland has been arrested on suspicion of endangerment. The pilot was seen on video footage trying to land the Gazelle helicopter on the bank of the canal beside the Rustic Inn in Abbeyshurle in Co Longford. He flew off and then made a second approach, as an onlooker cleared a picnic table to help the chopper land. But as the aircraft manoeuvred and touched down unsteadily, the tail rotor swung round and hit the pub, causing a 10ft hole in the wall and a wrecked helicopter.

The impact was very fast but very noisy, it was shocking

Witness Ciaran Doyle, 14

Ciaran Doyle, 14, from Aughnacliffe, Longford, was in Abbeyshrule with his father and recorded the crash. He said: “As I was taking a video for about five minutes it hit off the Rustic Inn and flipped over on its side.” Two men on board escaped with minor injuries. Police said the arrested man, who is in his 60s and from the UK, was detained at Dublin airport. The second man on board was named as David Bruton, the owner of Midland Aviation which is based at Abbeyshrule Aerodrome, about amile from the crash site.