A tragic midair collision of two helicopters occurred on a Sunday over Hammonton Municipal Airport. Death of one pilot was the outcome and another was reported as being critically ill by the officials. The helicopters were flown solely by their pilots.
Rescue personnel arrived at the site of the crash at about 11:25 a.m., after the report of the accident by Hammonton Police Chief Kevin Friel, who indicated one of the helicopters was being tossed around in the air and had then fallen. The fire which had reached one of the helicopters was promptly extinguished by the firefighters.
The aircraft involved in the accident have been classified by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) as Enstrom F-28A and Enstrom 280C. The most injured pilot was initially taken by ambulance to the hospital nearest the airport for treatment.
Eyewitnesses were unfortunate to tell the terrible story. Sal Silipino, the owner of the café situated close to the crash site, mentioned how the pilots were frequent visitors and that they would often have breakfast together.“It was shocking. I’m still shaking after that happened,” he said. Hammonton resident Dan Dameshek recounted hearing a loud snap and watching both helicopters spin out of control.
“Immediately, the first helicopter went from right side up to upside down and started rapidly spinning, falling out of the air,” Dameshek told NBC10. “And then the second helicopter started spinning out of the air after a momentary pause.”
Hammonton, a town of about 15,000 residents located in the southern New Jersey region, is placed next to the Pine Barrens, a huge area of wilderness that is still largely forested and covers over 1 million acres.
An investigation has been initiated by the aviation authority as well as the NTSB into the issue. In the list of things that expert investigators will probably look into will be, among others, communications of the pilots, problems of line-of-sight, and whether the collision could be classified under the “see and avoid” which is a common cause of midair accidents. The time of the accident was characterized by a predominance of clouds in the sky, accompanied by subtle winds and the visibility being quite good.
While the investigation is in progress, the police have advised the residents to keep distance from the place of the accident.
Key Points:
- Two helicopters crashed into each other in the air above Hammonton, NJ.
- One pilot died, the other one was badly hurt.
- The FAA and NTSB are looking into what caused the accident.
- People who saw it said that the helicopters were twisting and turning without control.
- The weather was nice; the visibility was excellent.
