By Charles W. Kim, Managing Editor
Helicopter pilot Edmund Eilbacher of Hillsborough is recovering from a commercial helicopter crash in South Brunswick on July 20.
His condition has been upgraded to stable, said his sister, Catherine, at the family farm on Wertsville Road on Tuesday morning. Mr. Eilbacher, 27, had suffered broken vertebrae and ribs, she said, but wasn’t talking much about the accident itself.
First details from a preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Board, who is investigating the crash, sheds little light on what caused the incident.
”The preliminary report won’t be very detailed. It would not show the cause (of the crash),” NTSB spokesman Keith Holloway said Monday. “The cause will not be determined for between 12 to 18 months.”
Mr. Holloway said the early report generally comes out about a week to 10 days after a crash and usually contains only what investigators learned at the scene and statements from witnesses.
Peter Haigney, a spokesman for Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, said Monday that Mr. Eilbacher’s condition has been upgraded from serious to good, while passenger Julia Armstrong-Robertson, 44, of Newark, Del., remained in critical condition.
The crash took place behind the Indian Fields Elementary School on Ridge Road in a gravel area belonging to Medicia Corporation at around 11:30 a.m. July 20, according to South Brunswick police Sgt. James Ryan.
At 27, Mr. Eilbacher has led an adventurous life, according to information found on the Internet.
In 2007, following graduation from the University of North Dakota’s Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences, Mr. Eilbacher and friend Jeff Petrie paddled the length of the Mississippi River — more than 2,300 miles — in a 45-day voyage for a group called “Paddling for a Purpose.” They teamed with a local branch of UNICEF to raise money for water sanitation programs in undeveloped countries.
A report printed in 2007 in the UND’s student newspaper said that Mr. Eilbacher had gone on several outdoor trips in the past, including a salmon fishing trip in Alaska and 50-mile mountain hike. A former Boy Scout, it said, Mr. Eilbacher had traveled to Africa and had seen firsthand the conditions there.
According to Sgt. Ryan, the pair took off July 20 from Princeton Airport in the two-seat Robinson R22 Beta helicopter, owned by Nassau Helicopters of Princeton, to take photos of the area around the school.
Ms. Armstrong-Robertson is a freelance photographer who owns Aero-Imaging Inc. of Wilmington, Del., which specializes in aerial photography. She also does work for other news publications and magazines, according to the company’s website.
Witnesses, including workers doing a construction project on the school roof, told police that the helicopter circled the area once and then fell to the ground, making a hard landing in the gravel.
Both crash victims were taken to the hospital with serious chest and back injuries, according to Sgt. Ryan.
Ms. Armstrong-Robertson was taken by the NorthStar State Police helicopter and Mr. Eilbacher by ambulance, according to Sgt. Ryan.
Investigators from the NTSB and the Federal Aviation Administration visited the scene during the afternoon July 20 and took photograph and interviewed witnesses, according to the preliminary report.
According to Mr. Holloway, the NTSB is not regulatory nor does it have any law enforcement powers, but does investigate between 1,700 to 2,000 aviation accidents a year.
Once the investigations are completed, the agency would make recommendations as to safety or other issues to the FAA, if warranted.
The preliminary report includes observations by witnesses to the crash that state the helicopter was about 150 feet off the ground and circling the area when it started to spin down.
One witness in the report told investigators that the helicopter appeared “slightly out of control.” Another witness who was working on the school roof said the workers were concerned at first that the helicopter might strike the building.
Last week, Sgt. Ryan commended the pilot, Mr. Eilbacher, with avoiding the school.
”We do believe that the pilot took evasive action to avoid the school,” Sgt. Ryan said at the scene July 20.
FAA records show Mr. Eilbacher has held a pilot’s certificate since 2005 and also holds certificates from 2008 as a commercial pilot and flight instructor.
Messages left at Nassau Helicopters were not returned.
Princeton Airport owner Dick Nierenberg said Monday that the airport leases space to Nassau Helicopters, which has been in business there for several years without an accident.
”(Nassau) uses the airport for flight training, photo hops and sometimes charters,” Mr. Nierenberg said.
Mr. Nierenberg, 78, who has been flying fixed-wing aircraft since 1952, said that the heat and humidity present the day of the crash could have been a contributing factor.
”It was a tough day to fly,” Mr. Nierenberg said. “(Aircraft) don’t perform that well (in the heat).”
Mr. Nierenberg said that the heat and humidity could raise the “altitude density” when flying at low levels giving the aircraft the same effects as flying several thousand feet higher.
”The engines can lose power,” Mr. Nierenberg said.
While the helicopter could perform in what aviators call a “standard” day with a temperature of 59 degrees and 0 percent humidity, a day with temperatures in the 90s and humidity in the 70 to 80 percent range could make the aircraft seem like it was flying at 6,000-8,000 feet above sea level instead of the actual 150 feet, Mr. Nierenberg said.
— Beacon Managing Editor Gene Robbins contributed to this report.
