The pilot and photographer aboard a television news helicopter were killed when it crashed in a wooded area of southern New Jersey Tuesday night (Dec. 19). The single-engine Eurocopter AS350B2 went down in the Wharton State Forest, about 30 miles from Philadelphia, around 8 p.m. while returning from an assignment on the New Jersey shore to its home base at Northeast Philadelphia Airport. The helicopter and crew were contracted through U.S. Helicopters and were longtime members of Philadelphia’s 6ABC news team.
New Jersey State Park Police Chief George Fedorczyk told reporters the park police were first notified at 11 p.m. that the helicopter was missing. The wreckage was found just after midnight. The park police identified the victims as pilot Monroe Smith, 67, of Glenside, Pennsylvania, and photographer Christopher Dougherty, 45, of Oreland, Pennsylvania.
There were no immediate reports of radio transmissions from the helicopter or any indication of what may have caused it to go down. Investigation teams from the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board were on site today and will remove the wreckage to a secure area for examination.
Retired photojournalist Pete Kane worked for another area television station and told reporters he was not only a colleague of Smith, but also a classmate from an area high school. “We’re competitors at TV stations,” he said, “but in reality, we’re all friends. We all look out for each other.”
