One killed when small plane, state police helicopter collide in midair over Pennsylvania, officials say
One person was killed and two Pennsylvania State Police troopers were injured when a small plane and a state police helicopter were involved in a midair collision in central Pennsylvania on Wednesday night, authorities said.
The collision involved a Cessna 150 and a Bell 407 chopper, the Federal Aviation Administration said.
Acting Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Lt. Col. George Bivens said in a news conference Wednesday night the pilot of the Cessna, who was believed to be its only occupant, was killed in the collision, which occurred at Carlisle Airport in Cumberland County.
The two pilots aboard the chopper, who were members of the state police's elite aviation unit, were injured but are expected to survive, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said at the briefing.
The helicopter, based out of Harrisburg, was conducting routine training exercises at Carlisle Airport when the crash occurred just before 7 p.m. ET, Bivens said.
The helicopter was hovering several feet off the ground in a grass area when a small Cessna "approached from behind" and lined up with one of the runways near that grass area, Bivens told reporters.
"As that Cessna came down along that runway, for an unknown reason, it veered hard to the right at the last moment," Bivens said. "It struck the helicopter from the rear. The pilots would not have been able to even see that airplane approaching them."
Bivens described the crash as "violent," saying the helicopter "rolled inverted and crashed into the ground on its side and partially onto its roof."
The Cessna pilot died at the scene. Both helicopter pilots were initially trapped, but one of them was able to push out a window and get both of them out, Bivens disclosed.
They were taken to Penn State Hershey Medical Center. Dr. Ashley Ludwig, trauma director at the hospital, said in the briefing that both pilots sustained minor injuries and were stable.
The name of the deceased Cessna pilot was not immediately released.
FAA officials were on scene, and National Transportation Safety Board investigators were arriving overnight, Bivens said. The FAA said that the NTSB would lead the investigation, with the FAA assisting.
"There is some video and photographs that are available that will be used to reconstruct what occurred," Bivens said.
The NTSB noted that after the wreckage was documented, it would "be moved to a secure facility for further examination."
"Tonight could have been much worse, tonight could have been much more tragic for our state police family, thank God that it wasn't," Shapiro said.
Carlisle is located about 120 miles west of Philadelphia.