A news helicopter, known as Chopper 6, operated by Philadelphia ABC station WPVI, crashed in a wooded area of Burlington County, New Jersey, on Tuesday night, December 19, 2023.
The crash claimed the lives of the two onboard, the pilot, 67-year-old Monroe Smith of Glenside, Pennsylvania, and a photographer, 45-year-old Christopher Dougherty of Oreland, Pennsylvania.
The pair were returning from an assignment at the Jersey Shore.
The chopper crashed in Washington Township after 8 p.m. New Jersey State Police located the wreckage in a remote section of Wharton State Forest, a densely wooded area, shortly after midnight.
The exact cause of the accident remains unclear, and an investigation is currently underway.
The National Transportation Safety Board has taken over the investigation, with the site’s limited visibility delaying the initial assessment.
Chopper 6, a 2013 American Eurocopter AS-350A-STAR, was leased by 6ABC from North Carolina-based U.S. Helicopters Inc. The helicopter had been part of 6ABC’s news coverage since 1980, marking the station as the first in Philadelphia to use a helicopter for news reporting.
The Federal Aviation Authority is involved in the investigation, working alongside the National Transportation Safety Board. The crash site’s challenging access and the forest’s expanse have added complexity to the investigation.
