NTSB Releases Report On Fatal Mid-Air Collision

FREDERICK, Md. (WJZ) -- A horrific mid-air crash in Maryland killed three people. Now, almost a year and a half later, the NTSB is releasing a new report on how it unfolded.

Investigator Mike Hellgren has more on what they found.

This involved a helicopter and a small plane at the Frederick Airport. Among the findings: the air traffic controller did not hear a critical transmission and a safety system didn't alert the pilot of that plane.

The NTSB has now released new findings from an investigation into a mid-air crash between a chopper and a plane at the Frederick Airport that killed three people, laying out their harrowing final moments.

You can hear the screams from the air traffic control recordings WJZ obtained.

"Oh God, oh God," the recording said.

"I'd never seen so much fire and police department in my life," said witness Richard Main.

The new NTSB report does not include a cause---that will come later---but does lay out new facts.

Among them: three minutes before the crash, the air traffic controller did not hear the plane pilot and his warning system never alerted him to the helicopter. He told investigators "Out of nowhere, I saw a helicopter below me and to the left" then "heard a thump" before deploying his parachute.

"It just looked like it was going downward," said Anthony Naylor. "It was like boom boom straight down."

The investigation also revealed concerns over the lack of a radar at the airport at that time and why both aircraft were ever at the same altitude.

Among the dead: former Marine and helicopter instructor Christopher Parsons from Westminster. His company say it's critical to understand how this happened.

"Hopefully this investigation will help prevent this type of horrible accident again in the future," said Christopher Hollingshead, Advanced Helicopter Concepts.

The two people on board the small plane survived the crash.