One dead, one injured in chopper crash

CAMDEN CO., N.C. - Officials confirm one person was killed and another was injured when a helicopter crashed at Xe, formerly Blackwater Worldwide, Tuesday afternoon.

Camden County Sheriff Tony Perry confirmed for WAVY.com, 911 dispatchers received a call at 1:36 p.m. that a helicopter had crashed on Xe's compound on the Camden Co. side of the property. Xe sits in both Camden and Currituck Counties.

A Xe spokesperson says two men were on board the chopper doing routine training. She tells us when the chopper crashed into a structure on the property the instructor was killed and the student was injured.

Currituck County Public Information Officer Randall Edwards says it was a small private type of helicopter that crashed. Edwards says paramedics and firefighters from Camden and Currituck Counties arrived on scene within minutes after the crash.

FAA Communications Manager of the Southern Region, Kathleen Bergen says inspectors were able to respond quickly this afternoon because they were already in the area.

"They will be gathering data on the scene talking to any witnesses examining the aircraft looking at any videotape that might exist."

The information will then be passed to the NTSB, which will determine a probable cause in about a year.

Initially, Bergen was able to provide the following information.

"The instructor pilot was providing some training to another pilot when apparently one of the skids struck something the aircraft rolled over on the side that was occupied by the instructor pilot," said Bergen.

The body of the instructor was transported to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, as required by aviation investigators, who are on the scene. Paramedics tell WAVY.com the injured student was awake and talking. He was tranported to Ches. General Hospital.

Shawn Michaels lives near the edge of Xe's property. He told WAVY.com, "Wow! I can't believe I didn't hear anything. You see their choppers flying around here, training all the time. I never imagined one of them would crash. I feel bad for the family of the man who died."

Xe issued the following statement on the crash:

Xe's aviation affiliate, Presidential Airways, maintains a fleet of aircraft in support of training operations at the U.S. Training Center in Moyock, NC. At approximately 1:30 p.m. today, we were notified that one of our aircraft, an MD-530, was conducting routine training operations when an incident occurred on-site, involving two aviation personnel.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is currently on the scene and The National Transportation Safety Board has been notified.
Our thoughts and prayers are with those involved and their families and we ask that the media respect their privacy.

Anne Tyrrell

WAVY.com has a crew on the scene. Stay here for the latest on this breaking news.