It started as a normal Sunday morning for Kenneth Kirsch and Michael Greenberg. The two friends, both seasoned pilots, had breakfast together at their usual spot, the Cafe Americana in Hammonton, New Jersey. They then headed to the nearby Hammonton Municipal Airport. By 11:25 a.m., both men were dead, their helicopters destroyed in a mid-air collision that stunned the quiet farm community.
Witnesses saw the two helicopters flying close together before the horrific incident. Dan Dameshek was leaving a local gym. He heard a loud snap. “Immediately, the first helicopter went from right side up to upside down and started rapidly spinning, falling out of the air,” he told NBC10. The second helicopter seemed okay for a moment, he said, before another snap echoed and it, too, began spiraling uncontrollably to the ground.
The crash sent first responders rushing to a farm field about a mile and a half from the airport. Video from the scene shows one helicopter spinning rapidly earthward. Police and fire crews arrived to find one aircraft engulfed in flames, which they quickly extinguished. Kenneth Kirsch, 65, of Carney’s Point, was flown to an area hospital where he was pronounced dead. Michael Greenberg, 71, of Sewell, was pronounced dead at the crash site.
The Federal Aviation Administration identified the aircraft as an Enstrom F-28A and an Enstrom 280C helicopter. Each man was the only person on board his aircraft. The friends, both New Jersey residents, were regulars at the cafe near the airport, where owner Sal Silipino and others sadly watched them take off just before the tragedy. “It was shocking,” Silipino said. “I’m still shaking after that happened.”
Hammonton Police Chief Kevin Friel confirmed witness accounts that the helicopters were flying in proximity before the collision. The National Transportation Safety Board has taken over the investigation, with agents on the scene Monday to determine the cause. Former FAA and NTSB crash investigator Alan Diehl said a primary focus will be on the “see and avoid” principle. Investigators will look at sight lines from each cockpit to see if one pilot was in the other’s blind spot.
Weather does not appear to be a major factor. While skies were mostly cloudy at the time of the crash, winds were light and visibility was reported as good. The focus now turns to the investigation and the personal loss felt in Hammonton, a close-knit town of about 15,000 known for its blueberry farms and proximity to the Pine Barrens forest.
The sudden loss has left a quiet breakfast table empty. Two friends who shared a meal and a passion for flight are gone, leaving a community and an investigation searching for answers amidst the wreckage in a southern New Jersey field.
