Fatal Midair Helicopter Collision Over New Jersey Airport Leaves One Dead, Pilot Critically Injured
A tragic accident unfolded in the skies over South Jersey on Sunday morning when two helicopters collided midair near Hammonton Municipal Airport, killing one pilot and critically injuring the other. The crash, which occurred around 11:25 a.m. local time, has sent shockwaves through the quiet Atlantic County community and triggered a comprehensive federal investigation.
Authorities confirmed that the midair collision involved two light utility helicopters, an Enstrom F-28A and an Enstrom 280C. Both aircraft are small, piston-engine models often utilized for flight training or small-scale commercial operations, and initial reports indicate that only the pilots were aboard each helicopter.
Hammonton Police Chief Kevin Friel reported that rescuers rushed to the scene following calls of an aviation crash. Emergency crews were immediately met with the grim task of extinguishing a fire that had engulfed one of the helicopters upon impact. Tragically, one person was pronounced dead at the scene, while the second pilot was rushed to a nearby hospital with critical, life-threatening injuries.
The wreckage came down in the vicinity of Basin Road, near the Hammonton Municipal Airport. The town of Hammonton itself is a community of about 15,000 residents, best known for its agricultural history, particularly its blueberries.
As the community grapples with the devastating loss and severe injury, federal investigators are mobilizing to determine what led to the rare and catastrophic aerial accident. The Federal Aviation Administration, or FAA, immediately classified the incident as a midair collision and has handed the lead investigative role to the National Transportation Safety Board, or NTSB.
One key piece of contextual information for the investigators is the nature of the airspace. Hammonton Municipal Airport operates as a general aviation facility and does not have a control tower. Airports without control towers operate under specific rules where the responsibility to ‘see and avoid’ other traffic rests entirely with the pilots. The airport typically sees about 56 aircraft operations per day, with eight helicopters based there.
The NTSB will focus its probe on three primary areas: the pilot, the aircraft, and the operating environment. This involves collecting flight track data, reviewing any air traffic control communications, examining maintenance records for both the Enstrom F-28A and 280C, and analyzing the weather conditions at the time of the crash. At the time of this report, the identities of the two pilots have not been publicly released by authorities.
Investigators will document the entire crash scene before moving the wreckage of both helicopters to a secure facility for further, more detailed evaluation. Such an intricate and fatal investigation into the exact circumstances of a midair collision is expected to take many months.