MIAMI (NewsNation Now) — Two chopper crashes on opposite sides of the country over the weekend have FAA officials investigating and safety concerns being raised.

In Newport Beach, California, officers were responding to reports of a disturbance when, for unknown reasons, a police helicopter went down in shallow water. The pilot, 14-year veteran officer Nicholas Vella, was killed in the crash.

Another officer, a 16-year veteran who wasn’t identified, was taken to the hospital in critical condition but has since been released.

Friends and family members lined up outside the hospital to honor Vella. Plans for a funeral and memorial service are still being made.

The cause of that crash is as yet unknown. The Orange County Sheriff’s Office and the National Transportation Safety Board will be investigating.

In the crash in Miami Beach, a mass casualty incident was narrowly averted when the pilot managed to set the falling helicopter down just yards away from swimmers. The pilot was unhurt, but two of the three passengers were rushed to the hospital with broken backs. A third did not require medical attention.

Beachgoer Lisa Fong said, “The helicopter just came out of nowhere. people were actually swimming and didn’t realize it crashed into the shore.”

Another beach visitor, Graham Howell, told NewsNation’s Ileana Diaz, “The helicopter started coming down. obviously some sort of engine failure, air flight failure. And the pilot you could tell just from looking at the helicopter was probably doing his best to try find a safe place to put it down.”

The FAA and the NTSB will be investigating the crash in Miami. The NTSB is the lead agency in both cases.