A news helicopter in Seattle was taking off from a downtown helipad. The helicopter has just finished refueling. The helicopter had just arrived from Covington, Washington, and was planning to head near Renton. A routine takeoff that turned into a disaster. The helicopter then began making unusual noises. Then they lost control and the helicopter began to rotate counterclockwise. A full 360 degrees before it tilted sideways. The helicopter then crashed right next to Seattle's Space Needle. Federal investigators plan to reconstruct the wreckage to find out what really happened. A helicopter that crashed in Seattle and killed two people this week began spinning on takeoff before lurching forward in a fiery crash. The helicopter continued to rotate counterclockwise for approximately 360 degrees before pitching forward, nose low. The probable cause of this type of counterclockwise rotation is tail rotor failure. An unacceptably high number of helicopter accidents have occurred over the past decade. Since 2004, over 1,600 accidents have caused more than 500 victims. There have been 10 other helicopter crashes in the United States this year alone. The NTSB is concerned that these types of accidents will continue to occur if a concerted effort is not made to improve the safety of helicopter operations. NTSB wants to understand what will happen to prevent this from happening again. NTSB moved the wreckage to a hangar to rebuild the helicopter. Investigators are focusing on the helicopter's engine, airframe, pilot and environment. Several times a day, helicopters land and take off from the helipad above Seattle's Fisher Plaza. But this time it was different. A journalistic helicopter crashed to the ground and exploded... in the middle of the paper... juries. The 37-year-old man was taken to a local hospital in critical condition. KOMO News remembered the victims killed in the crash. They were Bill Strothman, a longtime photographer for the television station who was retired but working as a freelancer, and a pilot, Gary Pfitzner. The pilot's brother said: "He loved what he did, he loved flying." A pilot and a photographer were killed when a KOMO helicopter crashed into three vehicles. A third person was taken to hospital with serious burns. Richard Newman, 38, is at Harborview Medical Center in serious condition after the helicopter landed on his car. Susan Gregg says she has second- and third-degree burns over 20 percent of her body, her back and arms, her head and a broken rib. He is sedated in the intensive care unit and will need surgery for his burns, but not immediately.