Eyewitness recalls ‘terrifying’ scene as helicopter hit Clutha pub 10 years ago
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A journalist who saw a helicopter crash into the Clutha bar 10 years ago has recalled the “terrifying” incident.
Gordon Smart, who was editor of the Scottish Sun at the time, was on the roof of a nearby multi-storey car park when he saw the helicopter fall on November 29, 2013.
He told BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme on Wednesday that he initially believed the aircraft was going to hit the car park.
I think about it a lot and have done over the last 10 years
Three crew members and seven pub customers died when the Police Scotland helicopter fell on to the roof of the bar in Glasgow.
Mr Smart said: “It was a terrifying thing to witness. I think about it a lot and have done over the last 10 years. It was a really upsetting thing to see.
“I had this weird vantage point because I just happened to be on the roof of the Q Park next to the St Enoch centre, so I saw the whole thing happen and I just couldn’t believe my eyes.
“You kind of expect a fireball or an explosion and none of that happened.
“It was quite a surreal thing to witness. When I saw the helicopter I was on a phone call having an argument with the office in London and I couldn’t hear the other guy because of the noise of the engine misfiring, and I looked up and saw the helicopter fall.
“The lights went out and it tumbled beyond me, past the Holiday Inn, the hotel next door. I dived behind the car because I actually thought it was going to hit the car park.
“It was so odd because it didn’t really make much of a noise, it was just a bit of a thump. But it was bizarre to see.
“It was a really eerie thing. It was Black Friday that day so Glasgow was really busy. It was quite a serene thing being on the roof of the car park, it was a quiet night at that time, half- past 10.
“As I looked over the edge of the car park after it happened I have got this vivid memory of a lady taking her high heels off and running towards the pub. It was such a mad thing to see.
“I didn’t sleep that night, just thinking ‘what on earth is Glasgow going to wake up to tomorrow, this is a terrible thing’.”
But Mr Smart said the incident “really pulled people together”
He added: “It felt like there was a bit of solidarity amongst the people of Glasgow afterwards, the way the people pulled together.
“People really did rally round. The city was united afterwards.”
