Pilots were communicating before deadly collision between small plane and Pennsylvania police helicopter, NTSB says
By Aaron Cooper, Karina Tsui, CNN
(CNN) — Investigators trying to piece together what caused a small plane to crash into the back of a police helicopter at a central Pennsylvania airport Wednesday evening say the pilots were communicating before the midair collision.
An experienced pilot who also was an emergency room doctor was killed and two state troopers were injured when the two aircraft collided at Carlisle Regional Airport in Cumberland County, around 120 miles west of Philadelphia, police said.
The two-man helicopter crew was on a training flight and doing a common maneuver called a “hover taxi,” flying just above the ground at the airport when it was hit, NTSB investigator-in-charge Aaron McCarter said at a news conference Thursday evening.
At the same time, a Cessna 150 plane with one pilot onboard was circling the airport in what investigators described as an “unusual” flight path.
“The Cessna came in, straight and level, suddenly increased its pitch, severe nose up, did a left turn, leveled off again, and then flew into the back of the helicopter,“ McCarter said. “Right now we don’t know the details of why the pilot was flying… in that manner, but we are going to find out.”
Surveillance video of the moments before the collision shows the small plane with its nose in the air slamming into the tail and rotor of the helicopter.
The incident comes amid increased attention to airspace shared between helicopters and planes since last year’s midair collision at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport killed 67 people. In that crash, a US Army Blackhawk helicopter collided with an American Airlines regional jet as it was landing.
The NTSB will investigate all aspects of the environment, aircraft and people involved in Wednesday’s crash in Pennsylvania, McCarter said. It often takes one to two years before a probable cause of an aviation accident can be determined.
“In terms of the wreckage, there is no clues that we have right now,” he said, but on Friday investigators will move it to a facility in Delaware where it can be further examined.
The plane was normally kept at the airport and investigators say the pilot was seen working on it there earlier in the day. They do not know if the maintenance had anything to do with the crash. After the work, the pilot flew the plane and did some training, before returning to the airport where he hit the helicopter.
Like many small airports, Carlisle does not have an air traffic control tower, so pilots say their intentions on a common radio frequency. Both aircraft had communicated before the crash and were aware of each other, McCarter said.
The two helicopter pilots were initially trapped inside the wreckage, State Police Acting Commissioner Lt. Col. George Bivens said at a news conference Wednesday. One trooper was able to push out a window and assist the other trooper to free themselves before emergency responders arrived at the scene, he said.
The pilot of the Cessna was identified as Paul Sokoloski, 57, of Hershey, Pennsylvania by the Cumberland County Coroner. He was an experienced pilot with licenses to fly single engine, multiengine, and commercial planes, according to FAA records. His plane was registered at his home address. Sokoloski was also an emergency room doctor at Penn State Health, according to the hospital system.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro identified the two state troopers in the helicopter as State Police Corporal Pilot Bryce Corman and Trooper Pilot Jason Mills.
“Tonight could have been much worse. Tonight could have been much more tragic for our state police family. Thank god that it wasn’t,” Shapiro said Wednesday, adding he has been in touch with their families.
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CNN’s Yan Kaner and Alexandra Skores contributed to this report.
Correction: An earlier version of this story had the wrong day for the collision. It was Wednesday.
