Plane, National Guard Chopper Collide; 1 Killed

A light plane collided with an Air National Guard Chinook helicopter in the air over southern Santa Clara County on Wednesday afternoon, and the pilot of the private plane was killed, a medical flight nurse said.

The four crew members of the National Guard helicopter were uninjured in the crash, said Mary Foraker, a nurse who responded to the scene with a Cal Star medical helicopter team.

The National Guard has choppers in the area doing storm-related rescues in the nearby Monterey area, but it was unclear whether this aircraft was on that assignment, said Sean Walsh, spokesman for Gov. Pete Wilson.

Foraker said two Air National Guard Chinooks were flying in formation near Morgan Hill, just south of the Anderson Reservoir, when the light plane clipped the tail of one of the helicopters and plunged to the ground.

The damaged helicopter made an emergency landing, and all four crew members were unhurt, Foraker said. The pilot of the undamaged helicopter led Cal Star to the crash site of the light plane, she said.

Cal Star found a “completely disintegrated” plane and a single body about a quarter of a mile from the downed helicopter, Foraker said. She could not say whether the body was that of a man or a woman.

Paramedics were hiking into the area to retrieve the body, said American Medical Response spokesman Chuck McFadden. The crash occurred in a remote rural area unreachable by four-wheel-drive vehicles because the ground is so muddy from recent heavy rains, McFadden said.