Plane Pilot Dead after Striking PA State Police Helicopter in Carlisle, PA
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A private plane collided with a Pennsylvania State Police helicopter as it was landing at the Carlisle Regional Airport Wednesday evening, killing the pilot of the small plane and injuring two state police pilots.
At a press conference late Wednesday night, Lt. Col. George Bivens, acting commissioner of the Pennsylvania State Police, described what happened:
At about 6:30 p.m. a helicopter crew based out of Harrisburg started a routine training exercise at Carlisle Regional Airport.
At 6:52 p.m., the helicopter was hovering several feet off the ground, on a grassy area off the runway, when a small Cessna 150 approached from behind and lined up with one of the runways near the grassy area.
“For an unknown reason, it [the plane] veered hard to the right at the last moment. It struck the helicopter from the rear, the pilots would not have even been able to see that plane approaching. It hit the rear tail rotor and went into the main rotor of the helicopter, resulting in a very violent crash,” Bivens said at the news conference at Penn State Hershey Medical Center.
“The plane crashed into the ground a short distance ahead in many pieces. The helicopter, without its blades and without its tail boom, rolled inverted and crashed into the ground on its side.”
Both pilots, Cpl. Bryce J. Corman and Trooper Jason Mills, were initially trapped in the helicopter, Bivens said. Corman pushed out a window and then assisted Mills, who had more serious injuries.
Bivens said the Cessna pilot was killed in the crash.
“The one known occupant of the Cessna did not survive,” said Bivens. The pilot remains unidentified while officials notify family members of the death.
Bivens said detailed investigations will take place and that the FAA arrived at the scene Wednesday night.
Witnesses who live at the townhome development adjacent to the airport said they heard a loud bang and saw plumes of smoke at the time of the crash.
Neighbors Patrick Brown and Lloyd Slusser said they squeezed past a fence and ran into the field to help. They said they saw two troopers in the helicopter and one person in the plane.
Leading up to the crash, the two men said they saw the state police helicopter flying low, doing maneuvers, which the men said is common at the airport.
Laura Southerland and her 11-year-old son were training at the Gracie Barra Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, located about a 1,000 feet from the runway. Her son was in the parking lot at the time and said he saw the helicopter flying low and then heard a “boom.”
“It’s really common to have like a lot of traffic at this airport, like even a couple weeks ago when the president was here,” said Southerland, referring to President Trump’s visit to the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle.
“So it’s like a great airport with a lot of traffic, but it’s never had a problem.”
Southerland said she wondered how the two aircraft could have collided.
“Right away we were saying like, even though it’s like a small place and we’re not in like a big city, but they had immediate responders within minutes so that’s fortunate that we have that,” she said. “But [I’m] not sure how the crash could have happened.”
EMS crews were seen loading a patient onto a Life Lion medical helicopter that is based at the airport, witnesses said. A second Life Lion arrived around 7:30 p.m. to retrieve another victim.
Bivens said there is no air traffic control tower at the airport but noted the Cessna and helicopter communicated via a radio frequency used at the airport.
Visibility was very good at the airport at the time of the incident.
The airspace around Carlisle Airport was closed, dispatchers said.
Shapiro at about 8:30 p.m. said he was headed to Carlisle after being briefed on the crash.
“Lori and I are praying hard and we ask all of our fellow Pennsylvanians to join us,” Shapiro wrote on social media.
“The NTSB will lead the investigation and provide all updates,” the FAA said.
Staff writer Tirzah Christopher contributed to this article.
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