2 walk away after helicopter makes crash landing on Long Island

LINDENHURST, Long Island (WABC) -- A helicopter made a crash landing on Long Island Wednesday, and amazingly, the two people on board walked away from the scene with only very minor injuries.

The incident happened just before noon near the intersection of West Riviera Drive and West Alhambra Avenue in Lindenhurst.

According to investigators, the pilot, 26-year-old Joseph Lombardo, and his student, 27-year-old Ming Chen, were on their way back to Republic Airport when they lost power around 700 feet.

"It was a standard training flight," said Frank Delia, of the Academy of Aviation. "They were coming from the south practice area, which is off the south shore of Long Island, on their way back to Republic Airport after a successful training flight."

The pilot was able to miss every wire, every car and every house, landing in the residential intersection. The only thing taken out was the top of a street sign.

"If that's the student, he has to stick with this instructor," area resident Joe Cardinale said. "This guy did a great job. Never touched one wire. Not one wire. Cars do more damage when they crash around here."

Lombardo and Chen declined to go to the hospital and were not injured. Chen is staying with Lombardo and is from China.

The helicopter is a 2006 Robinson R22 Beta, which is a two-bladed, single-engine light utility helicopter manufactured by the Robinson Helicopter Company.

A person who lives on the street posted this photo to social media:

Another person took this photo: