TV Helicopter Crashes In Brazil (VIDEO)

A TV news helicopter pilot steered his crippled, out-of-control aircraft away from a busy highway before crashing in a grassy field during rush hour Wednesday, losing his own life but avoiding greater casualties. A cameraman onboard was seriously injured.

The Record TV helicopter was destroyed after going down next to the track of Sao Paulo's Jockey Club horse racing complex, a few hundred yards (meters) from heavy traffic on the thoroughfare.

Record TV said the pilot was pronounced dead at a hospital, and the cameraman was in intensive care with several broken bones and serious head injuries. They were the only two onboard, and no one on the ground was hurt.

'The pilot was a hero because he was able to take the helicopter to a clear area, which is not something easy to do in Sao Paulo,' air force Lt. Col. Ricardo Beltran Crespo told O Globo newspaper.

MORE ON HELICOPTER CRASH