Last week’s fatal crash at Carlisle Airport involved a state aviation unit with a long history of using air power to help protect the public.

In an average year, Pennsylvania State Police told PennLive this week, its aviation section — consisting of three planes and six helicopters — averages about 1,600 missions per year for PSP and other public safety agencies.

Common calls include searches for missing, endangered or wanted people; criminal surveillance; and providing an air platform for incident command and control.

Executive transport also is a key role.

Flight logs show state police planes have flown Gov. Josh Shapiro about 30 times so far this year. The helicopters are not typically used for executive transport.

New for the 21st century, the department has adopted a policy governing aircrafts’ role in detecting, assessing and responding to drone activity in the commonwealth that presents a credible threat to public safety.

The helicopters also assist in non-emergency situations, like major civic and sporting events.

One thing that is not common? Crashes.

While a full record of aviation accidents was not provided for this report, state police said the Aug. 19 collision at Carlisle was the section’s first fatal crash since 1989.

In the 1989 incident, a state police helicopter helping to search the Susquehanna River for a missing person flew into a power line and crashed into the river just north of the Maryland border.

Cpl. Paul Almer, the pilot, and Trooper Wayne Bilheimer, his observation passenger, were found in the submerged wreckage, strapped in their seats.

At Carlisle Airport in South Middleton Township last week, private pilot Paul Sokoloski was killed when his two-seat plane crashed into PSP’s Bell 407 helicopter at 6:52 p.m.

Sokoloski, an emergency medicine doctor at Penn State Hershey Medical Center, was making an approach to land at the airport.

The state police helicopter was on a training mission there.

Its two occupants, an instructor and a pilot receiving training, were both airlifted to Penn State Hershey Medical Center for treatment of injuries, but have since been released and are expected to make full recoveries.

A video clip circulating on social media that National Transportation Safety Board officials have authenticated shows the helicopter hovering at the side of the runway’s envelope, a few feet off the ground.

Sokoloski’s descending plane is then seen coming into view, also now just feet off the ground.

Seemingly aligned with the runway, the plane suddenly pitches up and veers sharply to the right, crashing at a high speed into the back end of the helicopter.

The cause of the crash remains under investigation by the NTSB.

Carlisle Airport, a small municipal airport, is in and owned by South Middleton Township.

With one runway, it is home base to about 60 aircraft, including a Life Lion flight ambulance, and experiences about 500 operations — takeoffs and landings — in the average week.

State police have regularly used it for training flights because of its proximity to the aviation section’s regional base at Capital City Airport in Fairview Township, York County, and the less-congested airspace.

Capitol City is close to Harrisburg International Airport, central Pennsylvania’s main commercial airport.

The helicopter involved in the Aug. 19 crash was destroyed.

State police told PennLive losing one of its six choppers will affect day-to-day operations, but since there is still one helicopter for each of the state’s five aviation patrol zones they see no problem meeting its mission.

The wrecked helicopter had a value of $1.9 million, the agency estimated.

While the state is self-insured for such losses, state police said it will “seek recovery” in this case, meaning it will likely pursue reimbursement from other insurance carriers with exposure from the crash.

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