Helicopter crash at former Blackwater site kills pilot

MOYOCK, N.C.

A fast, light "Little Bird" helicopter crashed Tuesday at the U.S. Training Center, formerly known as Blackwater Worldwide, killing the pilot and injuring a student.

An instructor pilot and the student were flying the Hughes 369-F on a training run at about 1:50 p.m. when the helicopter skid caught on an object and the aircraft flipped over, said Kathleen Bergen, Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman.

It's the first fatal accident in the 12-year history of the training center, according to Anne Tyrrell, spokeswoman for the military contractor now known as Xe.

The center and company headquarters, set on a rural campus in northeast North Carolina, offer a variety of civilian and military training on weapons, logistics and security.

The pilot was a full-time Xe employee and the student was an independent contractor for the company, she said. No names have been released.

Bergen said the student was walking after the crash and did not appear to be seriously injured. FAA safety inspectors were at the campus in Camden County near Moyock during the accident, she said.

She added that safety inspectors routinely observe flight operations and inspect air fields.

Sandy Casey, Currituck County's chief deputy, said he responded to the scene quickly but that the FAA already had the area roped off.

"All I could see from where I was were two pieces," he said. "The tail looked like it was broken off."

The helicopter belonged to a Xe subsidiary known as Presidential Airways, Tyrrell said. It has a fleet of more than 70 planes and helicopters, with some stationed abroad and at other training facilities, she said.

The aircraft that crashed Tuesday was manufactured in 1984 and powered by an Allison turbo-shaft engine, according to FAA records.

The small, fast aircraft has several variations that are commonly known as Little Birds. A two-person crew in a Little Bird can typically transport two or three troops, along with a variety of automatic weapons and missiles, according to the Federation of American Scientists Web site.

Blackwater Worldwide deployed the Little Birds to Iraq to protect truck convoys and occasionally whisk VIPs to secure locations. Insurgents in Baghdad shot down a Blackwater Little Bird in January 2007, killing four private contractors.