August 20, 2026
Provided Image/Governor's Office
Lt. Colonel George Bivens, far left, addresses the media after a small plane crashed into a Pennsylvania State Police helicopter near the Carlisle Airport on Wednesday night. The pilot of the Cessna 150 died. The two state troopers on the helicopter were injured.
A small airplane and a Pennsylvania State Police helicopter collided in midair near the Carlisle Airport on Wednesday night, killing the plane's pilot.
The state troopers in the Bell 407 helicopter — Corporal Pilot Bryce Corman and Trooper Pilot Jason Mills, survived the collision. They incurred minor injuries and were being treated at Penn State Hershey Medical Center, state officials said Wednesday night.
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"Tonight could have been much worse," Gov. Josh Shapiro said during a press conference.
Corman and Mills were conducting routine training exercises in the helicopter adjacent to the Carlisle Airport's runway Wednesday night, officials said. The helicopter was hovering several feet above the ground just before 7 p.m. when a small Cessna 150 approached the runway and veered sharply to the right "for an unknown reason," said Lt. Colonel George Bivens, acting commissioner of the Pennsylvania State Police.
"The pilots would not have been able to even see that airplane approaching them," Bivens said. "It hit the rear tail rotor and went into the main rotor of the helicopter, resulting in a very violent crash."
The plane crashed into the ground and was severed into multiple pieces, killing the pilot. The helicopter rolled, inverted and crashed onto its side with the pilots trapped inside. After a state trooper freed them from the helicopter, they were transported to receive medical care.
Cessna 150 aircrafts can hold two occupants and are typically used for flight training purposes. The identity of the plane's pilot has not been released, pending the notification of next of kin. The number of people that were on board the plane is unknown, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
Officials with the National Transportation Safety Board and the FAA arrived at the scene Wednesday night to begin an investigation into the crash.
"Lori and I join Pennsylvanians tonight in praying for the family of the Cessna 150 pilot who was killed, as well as Corporal Corman, Trooper Mills and their loved ones as they begin to recover," Shapiro said in a statement that referenced his wife.
