POLICE in the US have released shocking video of the moment a helicopter pilot loses control shortly after taking off in a carpark.

The helicopter attempts to take off from a platform but quickly becomes unsteady, weaving erratically before it becomes caught in the platform.

It cartwheels into the bitumen, shattering the blades and flipping the body of the helicopter upside down.

The pilot, a retired police officer, received a serious head injury in the incident in Little Rock, Arkansas and had to be cut from the wreckage.

Another man on the ground nearby, was lucky not to be injured from flying debris as the helicopter slammed into the ground.