Two small planes collided over a Hammonton farm on Saturday, killing one pilot and injuring another who parachuted to safety.
Wreckage from both planes landed in heavily wooded areas near.....Continue Reading
Fire Rescue News - One pilot killed, one parachutes to safety in plane collision over Hammonton Airport
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blueberry and corn fields less than a half-mile from the Hammonton Municipal Airport.
The pilot of a LANCAIR IV P was killed. The airplane was identified by the FAA as registered to David Mitchell of Voorhees, Camden County. Tom Beamer, who was at the airport and said he is an acquaintance of Mitchell, said that Mitchell was piloting the plane when it crashed. Beamer and others said Mitchell was an experienced pilot. The plane is described as a four-seat kit plane.
Witnesses said the pilot of a YAK-55M aerobatic plane parachuted to safety and walked out of the woods to call for help. A group of pilots and aircraft hobbyists were sitting or working at a private airplane hanger called the Taildragger Inn when one saw a plane disappear over the tree line. The plane never returned to the Hammonton airport, said Serggio Boryak, who helped with the search.
The crash occurred in a section of airspace called an "aerobatic box," which is reserved for pilots practicing aerobatic maneuvers, FAA spokeswoman Arlene Salac said.
However, Salac said, investigators will have to determine whether the pilots were practicing maneuvers when they collided or if one pilot accidentally entered that space.
The YAK-55M is registered to Kirill Barsukov, of Jersey City. He was listed in critical condition at Cooper University Hospital Medical Center, a hospital spokeswoman said Saturday night. The YAK-55 is described as a single-seat aerobatic plane.
Saturday's crash affected at least one plane that flew regularly out of the Taildragger Inn, where some area stunt pilots keep their planes. That hangar also is where area stunt pilot Jason Flood, whose banner plane crashed a couple weeks ago in Egg Harbor Township, is based.
Nearly a dozen men and women were at the property when they heard of, or saw, the crash. They all went to assist with the search efforts, some only wearing flip-flops as they trudged through thick briars and brush.
Hammonton pilot David Crescenzo said he was among those who found Mitchell's plane and said the man likely died on impact. "It's not something you want to see," Crescenzo said of the scene. "You see that and you know there's a family hurting."
A State Police helicopter flew close to the tree line for several hours, assisting with the search on the clear and sunny day that some pilots said was perfect for flying. Federal investigators arrived near the Big Buck Farm on Columbia Road, where some of the wreckage lay in a thick patch of trees and brush. A bulldozer operated by a New Jersey State Forest Fire service knocked down a number of the trees and authorities were overheard saying a large piece of the YAK-55 plane had crashed deep into the ground at that spot. Across Colombia Road, a wing lay on the grass shoulder.
Anthony DiMeo III, who owns a blueberry farm nearby, had watched pilots perform stunts over the airport every Saturday, the stunts and tricks mesmerizing his customers - and frustrating DiMeo.
"I'd see a red-and-white plane and a yellow plane doing crazy stunts over the airport every Saturday," DiMeo said. "My customers would sit out there and watch, like it was some sort of airshow. I always thought - one of these days ..."
DiMeo's workers witnessed Saturday's crash.
At about 7 p.m., a group of the pilots who had helped with the search effort were sitting on a back deck overlooking the Hammonton airport's runway, drinking beer or whiskey. A few were smoking cigars, mourning one pilot, thankful another had survived. All had deep scratches on their lower legs and feet. They talked of how the day's tragedy came just weeks after one of their own was critically injured in a crash and another pilot friend had recently died from cancer.
A policeman arrived with two federal investigators. Barsukov's belongings were still at the hangar and a man walked out of a back room carrying a large white parachute to give to the investigators.
"It's been a bad month for aviation," Crescenzo said.
Staff Writer Dan Good contributed to this report.
Contact Sarah Watson: 609-272-7216 SWatson@pressofac.com
