The FAA database shows the registration of an Aerospatiale AS355F-1 TwinStar that crashed in West Windsor, New Jersey, on Sept. 15 had expired on June 30.
The pilot and sole occupant, a 65-year-old former New York City policeman, was killed when the helicopter, N58030, crashed in a cornfield. One witness, an engineer who was approximately a mile away, told a local online news agency that he was watching the helicopter when suddenly one of the three main rotor blades broke into two or three pieces. He said one of the remaining main blades struck the debris, the helicopter rolled to the left and pitched down, crashing behind a tree line out of his view.
NTSB investigators have recovered only two of the helicopter’s main rotor blades as of this writing. Another witness reported seeing a large flock of birds flying near the helicopter just before the crash. The TwinStar was registered to a company named FIG HCRS LLC, listed in the FAA records with a New York City address.
The accident flight reportedly departed from nearby Princeton Airport and was headed for Atlantic City. The NTSB has not yet released its preliminary report on the accident.
