One killed as Cessna collides with police helicopter at Pennsylvania airport

A fatal collision occurred Wednesday evening near Carlisle Airport, a nontowered field west of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, involving a Pennsylvania State Police helicopter and a small single-engine airplane. One person was killed and two others were injured, according to authorities.

The helicopter, a Bell 407, was reportedly hovering in a grassy area beside the runway when a Cessna 150 approaching the same runway veered suddenly and struck it. The airplane reportedly first hit the helicopter's tail rotor before contacting the main rotor, and its wreckage came down in pieces near the runway.

Images circulated on social media showed the helicopter lying on its side in the grass, surrounded by a heavy police and fire response. The occupants of the helicopter sustained injuries but were able to exit through a window, according to officials.

Flight tracking data reportedly showed the Cessna had flown from Harrisburg and was conducting traffic-pattern circuits at the airport when its track ended abruptly.

The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the collision, which occurred at an airport with a single runway oriented northeast-southwest. Details on the extent of injuries to the surviving occupants and the identity of the person killed have not been released.