One person was killed and another critically injured after two helicopters collided in midair in the skies over South Jersey on Sunday morning, authorities said.
The choppers were flying in Hammonton Township when they crashed into each other around 11:20 a.m., police said.
Video showed one of the helicopters plummeting back to the ground, and one of the aircraft bursting into flames when it struck the earth, cops said. Firefighters arrived at the scene — about 30 miles southeast of Philadelphia — and quickly doused the blaze.
The victims have not been publicly identified, but investigators said only the pilots were onboard the two aircraft. The surviving pilot was rushed to a hospital with life-threatening injuries, officials said.
The crash involved an Enstrom F-28A helicopter and an Enstrom 280C helicopter, and both were operating near the small Hammonton Municipal Airport, the Federal Aviation Administration said. The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the wreck.
WPVI-TV/6ABC via AP
Debris from a helicopter is shown after two helicopters crashed in Hammonton, N.J., on Sunday. (WPVI-TV/6ABC via AP)
Midair helicopter crashes are rare, though in January an Army helicopter was involved in an airborne crash with an American Airlines plane in Washington, D.C., killing all 64 people on the plane and three people on the chopper.
With News Wire Services
