‘Chopper lands nears South Brunswick school
By Charles W. Kim, Packet Publications
Two people — at least one reportedly from Hillsborough —were seriously injured Wednesday morning when their small helicopter crashed about 100 feet behind the Indian Fields Elementary School on Ridge Road, South Brunswick .
South Brunswick Sgt. James Ryan said police received numerous 911 calls about 11:30 a.m. reporting a helicopter crash behind the school.
”The first officer to arrive found the male and female occupants lying outside (of the helicopter),” Sgt. Ryan said.
Sgt. Ryan said that, according to witnesses who were working on a construction project at the school, the small helicopter circled the area once and then fell to the ground, making a hard landing on a dirt area about 100 feet from the facility owned by Medicia Corp.
”There was no pre-warning that the helicopter was going to crash,” Sgt. Ryan said. “We do believe that the pilot took evasive action to avoid striking the school.”
Sgt. Ryan said the pilot would not have been aware whether there were any children in the school at the time, which there were not.
Workers at the school were first on the scene and were able to get the occupants out of the helicopter, according to Sgt. Ryan.
Sgt. Ryan identified the pilot only as a 27-year old Somerset County resident and his passenger as a 44-year old female. Media reports said at least one was from Hillsborough.
Both suffered chest and back injuries and were transported to Robert Wood Johnson University Medical Center in New Brunswick in serious condition by NorthStar helicopter and ambulance, Sgt. Ryan said.
”The helicopter took off from Princeton Airport and was on a mission to take pictures of the area,” Sgt. Ryan said. “We are not sure what the purpose was for that.”
Representatives from the Federal Aviation Administration arrived about 1:30 p.m.