CHANDLER, Ariz. (AP) — A helicopter crashed and burned, killing both of its occupants, after the copter collided in midair over suburban Phoenix with a single-engine plane that landed safely at an airport, authorities said.
The collision happened near Chandler Municipal Airport, said Chandler Police Sgt. Jason McClimans.
McClimans and a Fire Department spokesman, Battalion Chief Keith Welch, confirmed that two people aboard the helicopter were killed. The people on the plane did not need medical attention, Welch said. Nobody on the ground was injured, McClimans said.
News video showed a fire crew using a tarp to cover the helicopter’s burned wreckage in brush on what appeared to be a vacant lot or field near the airport’s southern boundary.
News video also showed the plane upright just off a runway. Its fuselage appeared to be intact.
The airport was closed and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the collision, McClimans said. Police were seeking witnesses and people who may have videotaped the collision and the crash of the helicopter.
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