Pilot Killed In South Brunswick Chopper Crash Identified

SOUTH BRUNSWICK, NJ — The helicopter pilot who was killed Thursday, has been identified as an Israeli national, South Brunswick Police said.

Josef Yitzhak, 44 of Israel, died after his craft crashed in South Brunswick at the border of Princeton Thursday afternoon.

South Brunswick Police worked with the Israeli Consulate and Israeli police overnight to notify Yitzhak's family. Police Chief Raymond Hayducka extended his sympathy to the pilot's family.

Yitzhak used to fly for an airline overseas and got here last week. He was supposed to be in New Jersey for 10 days, said Aaron McCarter, Air Safety Investigator from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). He was working to get an add-on to his commercial certificate.

The pilot was not required to have a trainer with him as he was certified to fly the chopper himself, McCarter told the press. He noted that it was too early to tell if the craft was up to code.

The chopper departed Princeton Airport at 3:12 p.m., flew east, went out of control at 800 feet off the ground level and suffered a “catastrophic failure” before plunging into the canal, McCarter said.

The Robinson R22 craft remains in 5 feet of water along the shoreline. A team from Delaware specializing in aviation salvage is joining McCarter, who said algae blooms and bacteria in the water are hindering the craft’s retrieval.

McCarter and his team will be on scene for the next two to four days depending on how difficult it is to recover the helicopter.

“When I get back to the Washington DC area that’s when the real work begins,” McCarter said. “It will be collecting all the non-volatile memory, not just electronic memory, but memory of individuals and witnesses.”

Authorities have solicited doorbell cameras and witness photographs for their investigation. All the information will be compiled to determine what caused the crash.

In five to 10 days a preliminary report will be released that will have the basic information on the pilot, like his qualifications, experience, how often he flew, etc., McCarter said.

The entire process to determine the cause of the crash could take upwards of a year, he said.

Yitzhak's helicopter took off from Princeton Airport on Thursday afternoon before crashing in a canal near Carnegie Lake around 3:30 p.m.

Authorities said they received numerous 911 calls about the helicopter, before and after it crashed.

A Kingston firefighter and South Brunswick police officer were first on the scene, within 5 minutes, and attempted to rescue the pilot.

"The two men lifted the helicopter and pulled the pilot from the helicopter, dragging him onto the shoreline nearby," Deputy Police Chief Jim Ryan said during a media briefing. "The pilot had suffered massive injuries and life-saving efforts were not possible."

After the pilot was pulled from the helicopter, EMS scoured the water body to confirm there was no one else in the water, authorities said.

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