Helicopter Crash That Killed Haddon Twp. Man Happened Minutes After Takeoff: Feds

JIM THORPE, PA — No known witnesses saw the helicopter crash that killed two people, including a Haddon Township man performing complex electrical work, earlier this month in Pennsylvania, according to federal investigators.

Michael Higgins, 40, of Haddon Township, died in the crash while working as a lineman Sept. 11 near Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania. The pilot — Jeffery Patmore, 52, of British Columbia, Canada — was also killed.

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The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is investigating the crash. The federal agency's preliminary findings, released Friday, revealed new details about the accident. But it remains unclear what caused the crash.

The Hughes 369D helicopter took off around 2 p.m., the report says. It crashed a couple minutes later at the work site — a 120-foot-tall transmission tower that was about a mile away.

The wreckage was found in a nose-down position, with some of it landing 200 feet forward. The main wreckage was adjacent to the tower, which had severed fiber obtic wire, the NTSB said.

The fuel tank was breached on impact, creating a strong odor of jet fuel.

"There were no known witnesses to the accident sequence," the preliminary report says. "Other line technicians, working about 2 miles away, reported feeling and hearing vibrations in the lines about the time of the accident."

Higgins was a journeyman lineman, traveling the country and pursuing challenging assignments in his job of building and restoring power, according to his loved ones.

PPL Electric Utilities, a power company in the area, told FOX 29 the crash occurred while a third-party contractor was working on its system.

On the fateful flight, Higgins was tasked with measuring and marking sections along a fiber optic wire near a 120-foot-tall transmission tower, the NTSB said. Anti-galloping devices, which prevent harsh winds and ice from causing damaging electrical flow, were to be installed on a later date.

Line technicians performed this task from the helicopter's left skid plate — the flat strips on helicopters that touch the ground — behind the pilot's seat, the NTSB said.

The aircraft took off on a clear day, with 45 gallons of fuel in the tank, the report says. It was manufactured in 1981 and maintained under a manufacturer's approved inspection program.

Its most-recent 100-hour inspection was completed on June 21, and it had flown 78.2 hours since, the NTSB said.

Patmore held a commercial pilot certificate. He reported 11,700 hours of flight experience in a federal application last November, including 2,626 hours in the same make and model that crashed, the report says.

The wreckage was retained for further examination.

Jim Thorpe is in Eastern Pennsylvania, about 30 miles north of Allentown.

The NTSB investigates aircraft crashes, typically releasing a preliminary report within 30 days of a crash. Final reports, which identify probable cause, tend to come out a year or two later. View the preliminary report here.