PHOTO: Courtesy of WLUK
OSHKOSH, WI (WLUK) — Two people were killed and two others were injured when two aircraft collided in the air Saturday afternoon at EAA AirVenture.
The injured people were rushed to the hospital and are in stable condition, according to EAA.
The collision between a helicopter and a gyrocopter happened at 12:24 p.m. at the south end of the EAA AirVenture flightline at Wittman Regional Airport.
NTSB reports the helicopter was a Rotorway 162F aircraft and the gyrocopter was a ELA Eclipse 10. They belonged to event attendees and were not involved in the air show, according to NTSB.
Possible Accident at #OSH23
Most/All air travel ceased following this smoke and several emergency vehicles rushing over. Anyone have details?#Oshkosh23 #eaa #airventure @EAA pic.twitter.com/QI2wf9qT5G— XLRS Aviation (@AviationXlrs) July 29, 2023
“The NTSB is now leading the investigation into that collision and find out exactly what happened,” said Dick Knapinski, director of communications for EAA. “They’ll look into the conditions, who was flying the airplane, experience within these aircraft and what the air traffic was in that area at the time.”
The Oshkosh Fire Department reports both aircraft crashed to the ground, with the gyrocopter coming down on a parked plane.
Oshkosh Fire says it responded to the scene, along with numerous emergency vehicles and United States Air Force firefighters who extinguished a fire from the helicopter.
The crash shut down aircraft operations at the airport for about two hours, but the afternoon air show was underway a little after 2:30 p.m.
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