6abc helicopter had no engine issues before it crashed, NTSB says in preliminary report

The 6abc helicopter that crashed in New Jersey last month, killing its pilot and a photographer, had no engine problems that would have prevented normal operation, according to a preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board.

Issued Wednesday, the report details the final flight of the helicopter, known as Chopper 6, but does not describe a potential cause. The helicopter went down at about 8 p.m. Dec. 19 in Wharton State Forest in Burlington County during its return to Philadelphia following an assignment shooting Christmas lights in Atlantic County.

Pilot Monroe Smith, 67, of Glenside, and photographer Chris Dougherty, 45, of Oreland, died in the crash.

The helicopter, a 2013 American Eurocopter AS350B2 owned and operated by North Carolina-based US Helicopters Inc., took off from Northeast Philadelphia Airport at 7:23 p.m. Following a 20-minute flight, it hovered for about 10 minutes to collect video footage, according to the NTSB report.

After 6abc’s news assignment desk cleared Smith and Dougherty to return, they began their flight back to Philadelphia. By 8:01 p.m., the helicopter had drifted from its flight path, and at 8:03 p.m., tracking platforms recorded its position for the last time.

A witness said he “observed a solid light traveling quickly at a steep angle” around that time, according to the NTSB report. Another witness described a “‘giant orange ball’ descending into the forest.”

At 10 p.m., the station’s assignment desk notified U.S. Helicopters, which contracts with 6abc to provide pilots and photographers, that they were unable to reach the crew. Authorities were notified of the situation following confirmation that the helicopter did not return to Northeast Philadelphia Airport, the NTSB’s report says.

Authorities later located the crashed helicopter in a wooded area of the Wharton State Forest near Hammonton at about 12:05 a.m. Dec. 20. At the time of the crash, blades from the helicopter’s main rotor and tail rotor were spinning and under power, striking trees as it descended.

The debris field from the wreckage stretched across about 600 feet.

Much of the aircraft was destroyed during the crash, but investigators were able to recover the engine, which was later examined at an unidentified secure location.

“No anomalies of the engine were discovered that would have precluded normal operation,” the NTSB said in its report.

The helicopter’s last airworthiness inspection had been conducted the day of the crash. It was refueled before the flight, which was its third of the day. Its flight record indicated that it had no prior reported accidents.

In total, the aircraft had about 7,300 hours of operation. Smith, meanwhile, reported that he had 8,597 flight hours as a pilot as of July, when the Federal Aviation Administration last issued him a medical certificate.

The NTSB did not provide a potential cause of the crash in its report, but its investigation is ongoing. A final report is expected to be issued in about a year and a half, NTSB investigator Todd Gunther said in December.

U.S. Helicopters said in a recent statement that it would cooperate with the investigation.

“We deeply sympathize with their families and share in their grief as a result of this tragic event,” the company’s statement read. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of our cherished colleagues.”