Two experienced pilots have been identified as the victims of a devastating mid-air helicopter collision in southern New Jersey. The fatal incident occurred on Sunday near Hammonton Municipal Airport.
Friends and Fellow Aviators Lost
Authorities confirmed on Monday that the deceased pilots were Kenneth Kirsch, 65, of Carney’s Point, and Michael Greenberg, 71, of Sewell. Both men were friends and residents of New Jersey who frequently shared breakfast at a café close to the crash site in Hammonton, situated roughly 35 miles southeast of Philadelphia.
Hammonton Police Chief Kevin Friel stated that Kirsch was pronounced dead at a local hospital after being airlifted from the scene. Greenberg was declared dead at the crash site itself. Chief Friel noted that witness accounts described the two helicopters flying in close proximity just before the collision.
The Moment of Impact and Aftermath
Emergency services responded to reports of an aviation crash at approximately 11:25 a.m. on Sunday. Disturbing video footage from the scene captured one of the helicopters spiralling rapidly towards the ground. The crash site was located about a mile and a half from the airport in a farm field.
Police and fire crews worked to extinguish flames that had engulfed one of the aircraft. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) described the event as a mid-air collision between an Enstrom F-28A helicopter and an Enstrom 280C helicopter. Only the pilots were on board each aircraft at the time.
Sal Silipino, owner of the nearby café where the pilots were regulars, recounted watching them take off. He described seeing one helicopter begin to spiral downward, followed by the other. "It was shocking," Silipino said. "I’m still shaking after that happened."
Investigation Focuses on 'See and Avoid'
Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) were on site Monday to begin their probe into the cause of the collision. Alan Diehl, a former crash investigator for both the FAA and NTSB, suggested the inquiry will likely first examine communications between the pilots and their ability to see each other.
"Virtually all mid-air collisions are a failure to what they call 'see and avoid,'" Diehl explained. Investigators will analyse the out-of-cockpit visibility for each aircraft to determine if one pilot was approaching from a blind spot.
Despite mostly cloudy conditions at the time of the crash, weather data from AccuWeather indicated light winds and good visibility, ruling out immediate weather-related causes. The town of Hammonton, with a population of around 15,000, is located in Atlantic County within New Jersey's agricultural heartland, close to the Pine Barrens forest.
