Two small planes collided over a Hammonton farm on Saturday, killing one pilot and injuring another who parachuted to safety.
Wreckage from both planes landed in heavily wooded areas near blueberry and corn fields less than a half-mile from the Hammonton Municipal Airport.
The pilot of a LANCAIR IV P was killed. The airplane was identified by the FAA as registered to David Mitchell of Voorhees, Camden County. Tom Beamer, who was at the airport and said he is an acquaintance of Mitchell, said that Mitchell was piloting the plane when it crashed. Beamer and others said Mitchell was an experienced pilot. The plane is described as a four-seat kit plane.
Witnesses said the pilot of a YAK-55M aerobatic plane parachuted to safety and walked out of the woods to call for help. A group of pilots and aircraft hobbyists were sitting or working at a private airplane hanger called the Taildragger Inn when one saw a plane disappear over the tree line. The plane never returned to the Hammonton airport, said Serggio Boryak, who helped with the search.
The crash occurred in a section of airspace called an "aerobatic box," which is reserved for pilots practicing aerobatic maneuvers, FAA spokeswoman Arlene Salac said.