Pennsylvania Helicopter Crash: Pilot Killed As Chopper Explodes In Buck County

Federal officials are investigating a fiery helicopter crash that claimed the life of one person in southeast Pennsylvania Wednesday morning.

According to Fox News, the tragic crash happened shortly after 7am, at which time the craft apparently lifted off from Van Sant Airport, about three miles south of the crash area in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

Reports say the aircraft then struck some trees and burst into flames upon impact and was mostly destroyed. Federal aviation officials later were able to determine that the helicopter, a Eurocopter model, was registered in Canada.

Police confirmed the crash victim to be Douglas Brigham, a retired Pennsylvania State Trooper who flew helicopters for the state from 1987 to 2011.

The Courier Times notes that Brigham, a great-grandson of the nation’s 31st president, Herbert Hoover, also was a volunteer firefighter with the Delaware Valley Fire Company and coordinator of the township’s Department of Emergency Management.

“This whole area has been hit very hard by (the death),” police Chief James Sabath told the paper.

While the cause for the crash remains under investigation by the National Transportation Board and FAA, several witnesses said there was heavy fog in the area when Brigham’s helicopter went down.

The chopper was engulfed in flames by the time firefighters arrived and was severely damaged in the crash.

MyFoxPhilly has more on the fatal helicopter crash in Bucks County, Pennsylvania in the video below: