6abc’s Chopper 6 crashes, killing pilot and photographer: ‘Just an absolute tragedy’

Two people are dead after a helicopter operated by 6abc crashed in South Jersey.

A pilot and photographer were killed when Chopper 6 crashed in a wooded area in Washington Township, Burlington County, sometime after 8 p.m. Tuesday. The helicopter was last spotted over Wharton State Forest, and the station said it was returning from having filmed an assignment at the Jersey Shore.

6abc late Wednesday afternoon identified the pilot as 67-year-old Monroe Smith of Glenside and the photographer as 45-year-old Christopher Dougherty of Oreland. The station said the two have a “long history” and had been part of the Action News team for years.

It’s unclear what caused the accident. New Jersey State Police discovered the crash site a little after midnight in a remote area of the woods, but an initial assessment was suspended until Wednesday due to limited visibility. The National Transportation Safety Board is taking over the investigation, and said a preliminary report should be available within 30 days.

“Just an absolute tragedy,” 6abc reporter Katherine Scott said during a morning broadcast of Action News. “You see and hear us talking about Chopper 6 all the time. Chopper 6 and those who fly it are crucial parts of our news operation. ... Our hearts are absolutely broken for these members of our news team and their families.”

A 6abc spokesperson said in an emailed statement: “We are devastated by the news that two of our extended 6abc family members were lost last night when Chopper6 went down while returning from an assignment in the Jersey Shore. Our hearts break as we send our deepest condolences and prayers to their families, loved ones and everyone at U.S. Helicopters.”

The helicopter was a 2013 American Eurocopter AS-350A-STAR leased from a North Carolina company, the station said.

The company, U.S. Helicopters, said in a statement to 6abc that the pilot and photographer were “beloved” longtime employees of U.S. Helicopters.

“We deeply sympathize with their families and share in their grief as a result of this tragic event. We will share arrangements in accordance with the families’ wishes,” the company said.

“We will cooperate with the FAA and other authorities during their investigation and are still gathering information, so we cannot comment or provide further information on the cause of this tragedy,” the statement said. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of our cherished colleagues.”

According to its flight history, the helicopter had a clean record with no reported accidents or incidents. Chopper 6 made three flights earlier in the day Tuesday prior to the crash, according to FlightAware.

Smith had previously flown for NBC10, the station reported.

“He made sure we were safe,” retired NBC10 photojournalist Pete Kane, who worked with Smith for several years, told the station.

”He made sure he got that story for whatever he was going out for. What we lost was a great man,” Kane said. “A great pilot. A wonderful human being and I lost a good friend.”

Kane and Smith both graduated from Ben Franklin High School and they celebrated their 50th class reunion last year.

This isn’t the first time TV journalists in Philadelphia have been killed in a helicopter accident. In July 1979, two members of a KYW-TV camera crew died when the chartered helicopter they were flying in for an assignment crashed into the Schuylkill.

In 1983, 6abc dealt with another public tragedy when popular meteorologist Jim O’Brien was killed in a skydiving accident in Montgomery County. Then-anchor Jim Gardner delivered an emotional on-air eulogy for his friend.

6abc has been using Chopper 6 to cover traffic and events since 1980, when it became the first Philly newscast to deploy a helicopter to cover news across the region. Since then, the use of helicopters has become a common part of TV news reports across the city.