Two California helicopter crashes prompt federal investigations

Two separate helicopter crashes in California over the past week left eight people hospitalized and prompted federal investigations, officials said. On Saturday afternoon a helicopter spun out of control and crashed near the Pacific Coast Highway in Huntington Beach, injuring five people, and on Monday evening an air ambulance went down on Highway 50 in Sacramento, critically injuring three crew members, authorities said.

The Huntington Beach crash was reported just after 2 p.m. Saturday near the Waterfront Beach Resort and the Hyatt Regency, where video captured the aircraft spiraling before it struck palm trees and came to rest against a pedestrian stairway over the highway, Huntington Beach police and fire officials said. Two people who had been aboard the helicopter were pulled from the wreckage and three people on the street were treated and transported to hospitals, including a child, the fire department said. The injuries were not immediately characterized by officials.

Eyewitnesses described seeing the chopper begin to spin and parts separate before impact, and several accounts reported the tail rotor slowing or detaching as the aircraft lost control. The helicopter was...