Midair Helicopter Collision in New Jersey Kills One, Injures Another

A midair helicopter collision in southern New Jersey on Sunday, December 28, left one pilot dead and another critically injured, according to local authorities and federal aviation officials.

Hammonton Police Chief Kevin Friel said emergency crews responded to reports of an aviation crash near Hammonton Municipal Airport at approximately 11:25 a.m. Video from the scene showed one helicopter spinning rapidly before crashing to the ground, followed by a fire that engulfed one of the aircraft. Police and fire crews quickly extinguished the flames.

The Federal Aviation Administration said the accident involved a midair collision between an Enstrom F-28A helicopter and an Enstrom 280C helicopter. Only the pilots were on board each aircraft. One pilot was pronounced dead at the scene, while the other was transported to a nearby hospital with life-threatening injuries.

Sal Silipino, owner of a café near the airport, said the two pilots were regular customers who frequently had breakfast together. He told reporters that he and other patrons watched the helicopters take off shortly before the crash.

“It was shocking,” Silipino said. “I’m still shaking after that happened.”

Hammonton resident Dan Dameshek told NBC10 that he was leaving a gym when he heard a loud snapping sound and saw both helicopters lose control.

“Immediately, the first helicopter went from right side up to upside down and started rapidly spinning, falling out of the air,” Dameshek said. “The second helicopter looked OK for a moment, and then there was another snap, and it also started spinning out of the sky.”

Hammonton, a town of roughly 15,000 residents in Atlantic County, is located about 35 miles southeast of Philadelphia and sits near the Pine Barrens, a forested region spanning more than one million acres.

The National Transportation Safety Board and the FAA will lead the investigation into the cause of the collision. Chief Friel said investigators will examine communications between the pilots and whether visual separation was maintained.

Alan Diehl, a former FAA and NTSB crash investigator, said midair collisions are most often linked to failures in visual awareness.

“Virtually all midair collisions are a failure of what they call ‘see and avoid,’” Diehl said. “Investigators will be looking closely at cockpit visibility and whether one aircraft may have approached from a blind spot.”

Weather conditions at the time of the crash were mostly cloudy, but winds were light and visibility was good, according to AccuWeather.

Sources: AirGuide Business airguide.info, bing.com, reuters.com, yahoo.com