• Suzie Smith, the nurse who was aboard the medical helicopter that crashed on Highway 50 in Sacramento Monday has died. Smith helped people around the world as a long-time traveling nurse before settling down in Sacramento for two decades. [CBS Sacramento]

• Six people were killed and at least 10 others were injured in a shooting in Leland, Mississippi Friday night at a gathering that followed a high school homecoming game. Additionally, two others were killed in a separate Friday night shooting on the grounds of a high school in Heidelberg, Mississippi. [ABC News]
• Perla Rosario Henriquez Ulloa, 21, of San Francisco was arrested and booked on multiple charges Thursday relating to the hit-and-run crash in Bernal Heights that killed Binod Budhathoki, a 30-year-old Nepalese immigrant, last weekend. [Chronicle]
• About 100 people on skateboards, bikes, and roller skates took part in Saturday’s city-approved hill bomb in Twin Peaks, a big contrast to the unsanctioned 2023 hill bomb that resulted in 100 arrests. [Chronicle]

• The Bay Area is expected to see rain with possible thunderstorms and lightning Monday morning, which could potentially cause minor urban overflow and small stream flooding. [KPIX]
• Oakland’s 17th Street serves as an example of how creating a walkable city without addressing the inevitable increase in cost of living leads to widespread vacancies and fractured communities. [Cities by Diana]

Image: Leanne Maxwell/SFist

Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Blaine Gabbert has apparently been enjoying warm, sunny life in Florida since he signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2019. But late last week, a fun day jet skiing with his two brothers in Hillsborough Bay in Tampa turned into an emergency rescue situation when a helicopter crashed nearby, ABC7 reported.

Luckily, although four people were ejected from the chopper, all survived.

On Thursday, the Gabbert brothers were reportedly cruising around the other “bay area” on jet skis when they heard some noises nearby. The Tampa Police Department said in a statement that that was the helicopter pilot and three passengers, who were on a sightseeing tour when they heard a loud bang and the helicopter lost power.

According to FOX59, one of the survivors, Hunter Hupp, said, “I was in the front. I asked the pilot if we just hit something. He goes, ‘No, but this isn’t really good.'”

According to ABC7, the Gabberts sped to the scene and found a sinking helicopter and multiple people, including children, in the water. They reportedly called 9-1-1, and Blaine Gabbert managed to get two of those away from the wreckage and out of the water onto his jet ski, while his brothers and the quick-moving authorities rescued the third and fourth.

"The youngest kid had just come up and said he was pinned in there, and I asked if anyone else was trapped, and then I called 911, tried to remain as calm as possible," Gabbert described in a press conference.

The police said that Gabbert had managed to stay calm during the rescue — which is no easy feat — and made Gabbert an honorary member of their marine unit on Friday.

"It's funny how time kind of slows down in those situations," Gabbert added. "I just wanted to get them dry and warm as quickly as possible."

Image of Blaine Gabbert playing for San Francisco 49ers in 2016 via Getty Images/Jonathan Daniel.

A Sunday afternoon helicopter rescue on the waters of Tomales Bay has yielded some video from the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office, who lent the efforts of their helicopter known as Henry-1 to Marin County’s Fire Department to ensure four kayakers made it safely back to shore.

The majestic waters of the Pacific Ocean, and it’s beautiful Bay Area inlets and bays, make for incomparable scenery, but as we learn several times a year, their tides can also be deadly. And it nearly came to another grisly outcome on Sunday, as the Chronicle reports that four kayakers were nearly swept to sea sometime after 2:30 p.m., though were rescued when a helicopter from the neighboring Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office picked them up and flew then safely to land.  

The video above was posted to Facebook, and depicts the rescue, or rather the period just after the four kayakers had been pulled from their boats. (Two of the endangered kayakers were little boys!) The video, which all parties consented to being made public, is from the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office, taken on board their Bell 407GHP helicopter known as “Henry-1.”

Per the Chronicle, a bystander saw the kayaks encountering difficulty in the rough waters Sunday afternoon, and alerted the Marin County Fire Department. That department put in a mutual aid response to the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office, resulting in the all-ends-well rescue shown in the video.

As the Chronicle notes, “In the video, the two boys were smiling and seemed to be enjoying the helicopter ride more than the two adults.” That’s funny, but also consistent with rescues. “We often find that the kids are excited by the helicopter and being part of the rescue,” Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Misti Wood told the Chronicle.

Wood added that there is no charge to those who are rescued in these situations, and the the stranded kayaks were also recovered.

Related: Body Reported Floating in Waters Near Sutro Baths; Rescue Units, Firefighter Boats Deployed To Find Person [SFist]

Image: Oleg Alexandrov via Wikimedia Commons

The pilot and another individual suffered non-life threatening injuries as a low-flying copter crashed at a PG&E training facility in Livermore.

We dump on PG&E plenty around here, but our thoughts go out to the two employees of the utility who were injured in a Wednesday as a PG&E helicopter crashed in Livermore, according  to NBC Bay Area. The crash was at a company training facility, and from the numerous social media reports and videos seen below, the damage was contained entirely to within the facility, and the two people suffered non-life threatening injuries.

All of this just happened at about 10 a.m. Wednesday morning, so some of the details are still coming together, and are conflicting. NBC Bay Area is on the scene, and reported below that “Two people taken to hospital with unknown injuries.” But the Alameda Fire Department is also on the scene, and tweeted about 90 minutes later that “One patient was transported to the hospital..”

But a just-released statement from PG&E, picked up by NBC Bay Area, confirms a version of events that both were hospitalized.

“The helicopter was transporting two people,” PG&E’s statement said. “Both occupants were transported to area hospitals.”

This facility is technically called the Livermore Electric Safety Academy. According to a PG&E site description, “This facility is for the PG&E coworkers who build out the electric infrastructure to a brand-new subdivision, whether it is transmission or distribution,” and “Additionally, this facility supports five apprentice programs and provides ongoing refresher training, pre-employment assessments and PowerPathway courses.”

The Bay Area News Group report on the crash puts it more plainly and adds some detail that “The PG&E Electric Safety Academy exists on a 35-acre campus along National Drive in Livermore, and it’s where newly-hired employees are trained to become line workers,,” and that “the facility includes numerous 40-foot poles that trainees must regularly climb, along with a gravel training area the size of 10 football fields.”

This is a breaking story and may be updated.

Related: Video Captures Moment That Helicopter Drops Enormous A/C Unit On Downtown Oakland Street [SFist]

Image: @AlamedaCoFire via Twitter

Hailing a car is so 2015. Thankfully, the new year brings with it new opportunities for excess, and the fine folks over at Uber are all too happy to oblige. The not-a-transportation company has teamed up with European aircraft manufacturer Airbus to launch a new helicopter service, which makes its first appearance this week at the Sundance Film Festival.

Airbus CEO Tom Enders announced the deal yesterday in the pages of The Wall Street Journal, and described the limited initial launch as potentially the beginning of something larger.

“Its a pilot project, we’ll see where it goes—but it’s pretty exciting,” explained Enders.

Service starts this week, but for now is limited to Park City, Utah, where Sundance is held. According to the LA Times, Airbus is providing H125 and H130 helicopters to ferry people from the Salt Lake City Airport to Park City.

The partnership with Airbus suggests a serious attempt by Uber to get into the air-transport business, and is not to be confused with the gimmicky Uber Chopper service briefly launched in 2013, in which Uber ferried the rich via helicopter between Manhattan and the Hamptons. At the time, the company offered the flights for a fixed price of $3,000, but there is no word yet on pricing for the new partnership.

However, don't get too excited, as you won't be able to summon a helicopter to land on Crissy Field anytime soon. Once you have hailed a helicopter ride via the app, a car will first need to pick you up and drive you to a helipad. Which, if you ask us, kind of defeats the brazenly ostentatious purpose of the whole thing.

Related: Door Flies Open On 'Uber For Flying' Jet After It Takes Off At SFO

If you're trying to get a jumpstart on your Labor Day Weekend, be advised that a crop-dusting helicopter crashed on 101 in Salinas a little after 6 a.m. No one, including the pilot, sustained any injuries. However, after the CHP temporarily closed all southbound lanes, traffic remains sluggish throughout the morning. [KTVU, Chron]

Assuming no one mixed speed into our Earl Grey tea, there has been a helicopter hovering the downtown / SOMA / Lower Rincon Hill area all morning. It's low and it's slow. Anyone know why? Update: According to SFist Deborah N, the helicopters are for a filming of Monk. Curse you, USA network! Er, we meant Trauma.