Pilot injured in helicopter crash at Essex County Airport
FAIRFIELD, N.J. -- A pilot was injured in a helicopter crash at Essex County Airport on Saturday.
Multiple 911 calls reporting the crash came in just after noon, Fairfield, New Jersey police said.
First responders found the helicopter on the north side of the airport. The pilot, 33, was in the pilot seat and leaning out of the cockpit, police said.
The man, from Marietta, Georgia, was taken to the hospital with head injuries. No one else was on board the helicopter.
A preliminary investigation determined the pilot had taken off to pick up a private charter before the crash, police said.
A witness told police the helicopter might have been 100 to 150 feet in the air when it started spinning and then hit the ground.
A hazmat team from the Nutley Fire Department responded to deal with a fuel spill and the airport was closed while the crash site was being secured, police said.
The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating.