New Details Revealed About Chopper 6 Crash That Killed 2

NEW JERSEY — A Philadelphia news helicopter returning from assignment at the Jersey Shore crashed into a South Jersey forest "at very high speed," broke apart, and caught fire, killing both occupants, according to an Associated Press report citing a federal crash investigator.

Pilot Monroe Smith, 67, and photographer Christopher Dougherty, 45, both of Montgomery County, died Tuesday when a 6ABC Action News chopper crashed Tuesday night in Washington Township, New Jersey.

The crew was returning from an assignment photographing Christmas light displays near Atlantic City when the crash occurred.

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Todd Gunther, an investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board, told reporters near the crash site Friday that the Chopper 6 was returning to its base at Northeast Philadelphia Airport when something caused it to crash into Wharton State Forest.

“The aircraft hit at very high speed, and after striking the trees, it fragmented,” Gunther told The Associated Press, adding the damaged aircraft "was subject to a post-crash fire."

Investigators were able to determine that there was no in-flight fire or explosion, he said.

Examination of the main rotor and tail rotors showed damage indicating that they were turning when they struck trees, Gunther said, and the helicopter had power at the time of the crash and its transmission was functioning.

There is no indication the pilot broadcast any emergency warning, Gunther added.

Smith and Dougherty left Northeast Philadelphia Airport earlier Tuesday before departing to return home from their assignment around 8 p.m., investigators said.

The timeline is still murky, but at some point between then and midnight, they ran into trouble.

Conditions were clear and cold, Gunther said during a Wednesday press conference. And the chopper was on course during the entirety of its flight.

The wreckage was found at around midnight a few hundred yards from Mullica River Road, near Middle Road and Quaker Bridge Atsion Road, New Jersey State Police said.

The wreckage from the crash is being removed to a secure off-site facility, where it is being reassembled to aid in the investigation into the cause. That includes the nose, tail and both sides of the helicopter.

It could be about two years before the NTSB announces its findings into what caused the crash, Gunther said.

The debris field stretched for 200 yards in the woods, about twice the length originally calculated.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.