Video shows helicopter spinning after midair collision in New Jersey

Video shows helicopter spinning after midair collision in New Jersey

Michelle Del Rey , USA TODAY

Mon, December 29, 2025 at 6:29 PM UTC

2 min read

Two people are dead after two helicopters collided midair in New Jersey over the weekend.

An Enstrom F-28A helicopter and Enstrom 280C helicopter collided near Hammonton Municipal Airport in New Jersey around 11:25 a.m. local time on Sunday, Dec. 28, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Hammonton is a town about 34 miles outside of Philadelphia.

Only the pilots were on board each aircraft, the agency said.

Video of the incident obtained by USA TODAY shows one of the helicopters spinning and plummeting from the sky. Watch at the top of this story.

New Jersey helicopter crash leaves 2 dead; victims identified

Both helicopters had just departed from the Hammonton Municipal Airport, a public-use airport, at the time of the incident, the town's police chief, Kevin Friel, said in a news release. The helicopters crash-landed in a field and tree line in a residential area. One of the helicopters was engulfed in flames.

The Hammonton Volunteer Fire Department extinguished the helicopter while fire and emergency personnel assisted the pilot from the other helicopter, who had been removed from the aircraft by nearby residents.

The pilot flying the F-28A model, later identified as Kenneth L. Kirsch, 65, of Carney’s Point, New Jersey, was flown by a medivac to Cooper University Hospital in Camden. He died from hi injuries at the hospital.

The pilot operating the 280C helicopter was identified as Michael Greenberg, 71, of Sewell, New Jersey. He died at the scene. Witnesses told officials they spotted the helicopters flying close together shortly before the crash.

What caused the helicopter crash? Incident under investigation

The helicopters collided approximately a mile and a half from the airport in a farm field, the statement noted.

The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the incident. NTSB investigators are working the scene and have retrieved both helicopters, Friel said.

Michelle Del Rey is a trending news reporter at USA TODAY. Reach her at mdelrey@usatoday.com

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Video shows helicopter spinning in NJ crash that killed 2 pilots

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