A Cessna 150 slammed into a hovering police helicopter during a training exercise, killing the pilot.
The horrifying collision took place just before 7 p.m. on August 19 at Carlisle Regional Airport in Pennsylvania, according to reports. A Pennsylvania State Police Bell 407 chopper was hovering only several feet off the ground beside a runway when 57-year-old Paul Sokoloski of Hershey, Pennsylvania approached in his small Cessna. For reasons investigators are still trying to figure out, the plane suddenly veered right and smashed into the helicopter from behind.
The collision was absolutely catastrophic. Acting Commissioner Lt. Col. George Bivens called it a "very violent crash." The Cessna was literally ripped to pieces on impact after slamming into both the tail rotor and main rotor of the chopper. The helicopter lost its blades and tail boom, then rolled onto its side and partially onto its roof. Sokoloski was the sole occupant of the plane and did not survive. The Cumberland County Coroner's Office confirmed his identity on Thursday, with an autopsy scheduled for the following week.
Now here is the part that is nothing short of miraculous. Two state troopers aboard that helicopter, Corporal Pilot Bryce Corman and Trooper Pilot Jason Mills, were initially trapped inside the mangled wreckage. Corman managed to push out a window and then helped Mills escape through the opening. Mills reportedly had more significant bleeding. Both men were rushed to Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, where doctors said they were in stable condition with only minor injuries. One trooper was potentially heading home that same night while the other stayed for observation.
Governor Josh Shapiro personally visited the hospital and met with both troopers and their families. "Tonight could have been much worse," Shapiro told reporters at a news conference afterward, praising emergency responders and medical teams who rushed to the scene.
So what went wrong? That is the million dollar question. Bivens noted that the helicopter pilots had zero ability to spot the Cessna coming up behind them before impact. And here is a critical detail, Carlisle Regional Airport has no air traffic control tower. Pilots there rely on a shared radio frequency to communicate with each other. Authorities confirmed that transmissions did occur on that frequency prior to the collision, and investigators plan to comb through every single one of them.
Both the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board are now on scene. The NTSB is running point on the investigation with help from federal aviation officials and Pennsylvania State Police. Video footage and photographs from the airport are also being examined.
No official cause has been determined yet, but you can bet every single detail of those final moments is being scrutinized. A small airport with no control tower, two aircraft converging on the same area, and a sudden unexplained course change. Investigators have their work cut out for them.
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