Chopper crashes on NYC skyscraper roof

NEW YORK -- A helicopter crashed on the roof of a rain-shrouded midtown Manhattan skyscraper Monday, killing the pilot and briefly triggering memories of 9/11, though it appeared to be an accident.

The crash near Times Square and Trump Tower shook the 750-foot AXA Equitable building, sparked a fire and forced office workers to flee on elevators and down stairs, witnesses and officials said.

The pilot was believed to be the only one aboard, and there were no other reports of injuries, authorities said.

It was not immediately clear what caused the crash, or why the Agusta A109E was flying in a driving downpour with low cloud cover and in the tightly controlled airspace of midtown Manhattan. A flight restriction in effect since President Donald Trump took office bans aircraft from flying below 3,000 feet within a 1-mile radius of Trump Tower, which is less than a half-mile from the crash site.

The helicopter went down about 11 minutes after taking off from a heliport along the East River, a little more than a mile away. Police Commissioner James O'Neill said it may have been returning to its home airport in Linden, New Jersey.

The 19-year-old helicopter was linked to a real estate company founded by Italian-born investor Daniele Bodini, according to Federal Aviation Administration records. The company referred an inquiry to a lawyer. A message was left with the attorney seeking comment.

Pedro Rodriguez, a pastry line cook at Le Bernardin, a well-known restaurant in the building, said workers got an announcement telling everyone to exit, and he later heard from people around him there was a fire on the roof.

The evacuation was not chaotic, Rodriguez said, but he was rattled because he immediately thought of the Sept. 11 attacks.

"It's scary when something like this happens," he said.

The crash happened shortly before 2 p.m., when clouds obscured the roof of the building. Rescue vehicles swarmed to the scene a few blocks from Rockefeller Center.

"If you're a New Yorker, you have a level of PTSD, right, from 9/11. And I remember that morning all too well. So as soon as you hear an aircraft hit a building, I think my mind goes where every New Yorker's mind goes," Gov. Andrew Cuomo told reporters.

Videos posted by onlookers showed emergency vehicles in the street, but no obvious damage to the skyscraper. The fire department later tweeted a photo of the helicopter's wreckage showing piles of burned debris on the roof.

Working for a bank on the building's seventh floor, Kendall Sawyer felt a shake -- "jarring enough to notice," but workers weren't sure what it was, she said.

Then came an announcement the situation was being looked into, and a few minutes later, an instruction to evacuate, without explanation, she said.

"It was a little bit crazy, a little bit scary" as workers walked down the stairs, she said.