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Authorities on Monday identified two pilots who died after their helicopters collided mid-air in the South. new jersey.
Kenneth Kirsch, 65, and Michael Greenberg, 71, were friends who both lived in New Jersey and often had breakfast together at a cafe near the crash site in Hammonton, about 35 miles (56 kilometers) southeast of New Jersey. Philadelphia.
Hammonton police Kirsch, of Caney Point, was pronounced dead after being airlifted to a local hospital, while Greenberg, of Sewell, died at the crash scene, Chief Kevin Freer said in a statement.
“Witness accounts indicate that the two helicopters were very close to each other before the crash,” he said. “The crash site is about a mile and a half from the airport in a field of farmland.”
Investigators from National Transportation Safety Board Authorities said they were on scene Monday.
Friel said rescue crews received reports of a plane crash around 11:25 a.m. Sunday. Video from the scene showed a helicopter spinning rapidly and falling to the ground. Police and fire crews later extinguished the flames that engulfed a helicopter.
this Federal Aviation Administration The accident was described as a collision between an Enstrom F-28A helicopter and an Enstrom 280C helicopter over the Hammonton Municipal Airport. There is only a pilot on board each plane.
Sal Silipino, owner of a cafe near the crash site, said the pilot was a regular customer of the restaurant and often had breakfast together. He said he and other customers watched as the helicopters took off and then one began to circle down, followed closely by another.
“It’s shocking,” he said. “I’m still shaking after what happened.”
Hammonton resident Dan Dameshek told NBC10 he was leaving a gym when he heard a loud bang and saw two helicopters spinning out of control.
“The first helicopter immediately went from right side up to upside down and started spinning very quickly, falling out of the sky,” Dameshek told the station. “Then the second helicopter looked like it was okay, and then it sounded like another snapping sound… and then that helicopter started spinning very fast in the air.”
Hammonton is a small town of approximately 15,000 people located in Atlantic County in southern New Jersey. The town has a rich agricultural history and is located near the Pine Barrens, a forested wilderness area covering more than 1 million acres (405,000 hectares).
Alan Diehl, a former accident investigator for the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board, said investigators will likely first examine communications between the two pilots and whether they were able to see each other.
“Almost all mid-air collisions fail because of what they call ‘see and avoid,'” Diehl said. “Obviously, they’re going to look at the outside cockpit view of both aircraft and see if there’s a pilot approaching from the blind side.”
Although the weather was mostly cloudy at the time of the crash, winds were light and visibility was good, according to weather forecasting company AccuWeather.