A Pennsylvania State Police helicopter was involved in a midair collision with a small plane Wednesday night at an airport west of Harrisburg, officials said.
One person from the crashed plane is dead, said Lt. Col. George Bivens, acting state police commissioner, at a late-night news conference at the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center.
Two members of the state police who were on board the helicopter, Cpl. Bryce Corman and Trooper Jason Mills, were listed in stable condition at the hospital, said Dr. Ashley Ludwig, trauma medical director at Penn State Hershey.
Gov. Josh Shapiro said he was “pleased and relieved” that the state police members survived and were not seriously hurt.
‘Tonight could have been much worse,” Shapiro said.
The Federal Aviation Administration, which is investigating the incident with the National Transportation Safety Board, reported that a state police Bell 407 helicopter collided midair with a Cessna 150 airplane at the Carlisle Airport, about 20 miles west of Harrisburg.
Bivens said that around 6:30 p.m., the state police were conducting a training exercise at the airport and were hovering the helicopter a few feet off the ground in a grassy when they were struck from behind by a Cessna that unexpectedly veered from a runway.
The plane crashed and was torn apart into pieces, Bivens said.
CBS21 posted photos on social media showing the crash scene and the helicopter lying on its side.
Earlier on Tuesday night, Shapiro posted on social media that he had been briefed on the crash “and I am heading there now,” he said.
“Lori and I are praying hard and we ask all of our fellow Pennsylvanians to join us,” Shapiro said.