A second pilot has died following a midair helicopter collision in New Jersey — as a witness revealed the harrowing moment she tried to keep him alive after the choppers crashed in her backyard.
The two pilots — named as longtime pals Kenneth Kirsch, 65, and Michael Greenberg, 71 — collided at around 11:25 a.m. Sunday in Hammonton, NJ, around 35 miles southeast of Philadelphia.
Kirsch, of Carney’s Point, died Monday after being flown to a nearby hospital. Greenberg, of Sewell, died at the crash scene Sunday, Hammonton Police Chief Kevin Friel said.
One of the helicopters moments before the collision. Dan Dameshek via Storyful
Wreckage from the deadly crash. FOX5
“Statements from witnesses had the two helicopters flying close together just before the crash. The crash site was approximately a mile and a half from the airport in a farm field,” Friel said.
The two pilots, who were long-term friends, often had breakfast together at a cafe close to the crash site.
Both helicopters landed on the property of New Jersey resident Caitlyn Collins, who rushed outside to help Kirsch after hearing the horrifying crash.
Authorities investigate the scene of the helicopter crashes. AP“The only thing I could think to do was to sit down and hold his hand and just talk to him,” Collins told KYMA.
“I just held his hand and said, ‘Everything is going to be okay. Everyone is coming for you. We all know you’re here. You’re safe here. The sirens are for you. They are on their way. You just got to stay,'” she said.
The helicopters crashed on Collins’s Hammonton property about two miles from an airfield in rural Atlantic County, south of Wharton State Forest.
“In this area, there’s a nursing home that houses hundreds of people. That could have been a catastrophic event,” Hammonton Police Chief Kevin Frield told KYMA.
The cause of Sunday’s crash is under investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
Both the FAA and the NTSB were expected to be at the crash site on Monday.
Small airports such as Hammonton do not have air traffic control towers to help guide aircraft.
“Pilots are expected and have to be in communication with each other,” Aviation Attorney Pablo Rojas told KYMA.
