Crime & Safety

Helicopter Crashes in South Brunswick Near Route 130

Two passengers injured as pilot manages to avoid hitting Indian Fields School during "rapid descent."

Two people were injured when a helicopter crashed in a field behind Indian Fields Elementary School in the Dayton section of South Brunswick early this afternoon.

Injured in the crash were a 27-year-old Hillsborough man who was piloting the helicopter, and a 44-year-old female whose residence has not yet been released.

South Brunswick Police received multiple 911 calls around 11:30 a.m. reporting the crash.

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"Witnesses told us the copter circled the area about one and a half times before going straight down to the ground," said South Brunswick officer Frank Mongalieri. "It didn't circle on the way down, it was a rapid descent straight down."

The private helicopter, which police described as a training helicopter, flew out of Princeton Airport and was reportedly on a photo shoot. Police are awaiting the flight log from the airport for the time it departed.

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"They were on a photo shoot taking some kind of aerial footage when they experienced some sort of trouble," said police spokesman Sgt. Jim Ryan. "They then descended rapidly. Some workers fixing the roof at Indian Fields saw the crash. It appears the pilot did a fantastic job avoiding the building."

Indian Fields was mostly unoccupied, with about 20 staffers and roofers at the school at the time of the crash.

"We didn't hear anything, not the copter or the crash," said Indian Fields head custodian Robin Stratton. "We just saw the police cars racing to by. It didn't really make a lot of noise when it came down. I just pray the people are okay."

The female passenger was airlifted by New Jersey State Police helicopter to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick. The male pilot was transported by ambulance.

"We believe they both sustained chest and back injuries, but the severity can't be determined until they're examined at the hospital," Sgt. Ryan said. "The female was in shock and it was very difficult getting anything out of her."

Sgt. Ryan said the roof workers immediately came down and attempted to help the victims following the crash. It's unknown at this time whether the victims were thrown from the helicopter following the impact.

In previous years, Indian Fields was the home of South Brunswick Community Education summer camps, which rotate throughout different schools in the district. However, due to the roofing work, there were no children at the school when the crash occurred.

"It appears the pilot did a miraculous job getting this down in the field," said South Brunswick School District Superintendent Gary McCartney. "It's scary, but it's a fact of life that there are a lot of air travelers. The first thing I said when I found out was thank god there were no children here when it happened."


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