Authorities have identified the two pilots who tragically lost their lives following a mid-air collision between their helicopters in southern New Jersey on Sunday. The pilots, Kenneth Kirsch, aged 65, and Michael Greenberg, aged 71, were close friends residing in New Jersey. They had a routine of having breakfast together at a cafe near the crash site in Hammonton, approximately 56 kilometers southeast of Philadelphia.
Hammonton Police Chief Kevin Friel confirmed that Kirsch was airlifted to a nearby hospital but was pronounced dead upon arrival, while Greenberg tragically passed away at the crash scene. The incident involved an Enstrom F-28A helicopter and an Enstrom 280C helicopter colliding above Hammonton Municipal Airport, with only the two pilots onboard each aircraft, as reported by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
Eyewitnesses, including Sal Silipino, the cafe owner near the crash site, recounted seeing the helicopters take off before witnessing the harrowing mid-air collision. Silipino described the event as shocking, leaving him visibly shaken. Hammonton, a town with a population of approximately 15,000 in Atlantic County, New Jersey, is known for its agricultural background and proximity to the expansive Pine Barrens wilderness covering over 405,000 hectares.
Following the incident, the FAA and the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) have been alerted and will conduct a thorough investigation into the crash, according to Chief Friel. Investigators are expected to analyze the communication records between the pilots and determine if there were any visibility issues that contributed to the collision, as stated by Alan Diehl, a former crash investigator for the FAA and NTSB.
Diehl highlighted that most mid-air collisions result from a failure to effectively “see and avoid” other aircraft, suggesting that the investigators will scrutinize the cockpit views of both helicopters to ascertain if any blind spot issues existed. Despite cloudy conditions at the time of the collision, prevailing weather reports indicated light winds and good visibility, reported by the weather forecasting company AccuWeather.