Pilot injured in Southern Calif. helicopter crash

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. – Authorities say a helicopter lifting a load at an office complex near Los Angeles has crashed and caught fire, seriously injuring the pilot.

Fire Department Battalion Chief Richard Geyer says the Sikorsky aircraft went down Sunday morning while lifting an air-conditioning unit off the roof of a building at the Raytheon plant in El Segundo, about one mile south of Los Angeles International Airport.

The helicopter plunged into a patio area, setting the building's first and second floors ablaze. Geyer says the fire was knocked down in about 30 minutes. Nobody on the ground was injured.

Federal Aviation Spokesman Mike Fergus says the pilot was pulled from the cockpit just before the aircraft burst into flames. The pilot was taken to a hospital. Fergus says the Sikorsky was completely destroyed.