According to Fairfield police, a pilot was injured in a helicopter accident at Essex County Airport on Saturday, and was located in the cockpit with a head injuries.
Around 12:04 p.m. that day, police claimed they got many 911 calls reporting an accident at the airport.
Police, fire, and EMS were all summoned to the scene. According to authorities, officers discovered a helicopter on the ground near Runway #28 on the airport’s north side.
According to authorities, the lone pilot, a 33-year-old male from Marietta, Georgia, was found “still in the pilot seat, partially leaning out of the cockpit.”
Officers discovered that he had suffered head injuries. He was extricated from the aircraft and transferred to a local trauma center by the West Essex First Aid Squad.
According to the police, “According to preliminary inquiry, the helicopter, a 2015 Bell Model 407, is operated by Zip Aviation, which is based on the airport grounds. When the plane crashed, it appears that the pilot was taking off to pick up a private charter. The helicopter may have been as high as 100′ to 150′ in the air when it began to spin and eventually crash into the earth, according to a witness at the site.”
The area around the helicopter was sealed until the arrival of investigators from the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Bureau, as well as the arrival of the Nutley Fire Department’s Hazardous Materials Team to assist with a gasoline spill. At the site, the Essex County Sheriff’s Department helped.
All planes were momentarily grounded at the airport.
