NTSB issues 1st report on fatal midair collision in Chandler

PHOENIX (AP) — The National Transportation Safety Board has issued its preliminary report on a fatal midair collision involving a helicopter and a small plane outside a suburban Phoenix airport earlier this month. The flight instructor and student pilot aboard the helicopter both died in the Oct. 1 crash while the flight instructor and student pilot in the single-engine plane escaped injury. The NTSB report says both aircraft were in parallel traffic patterns at Chandler Municipal Airport and getting ready to land. The report says that shortly after the airplane made its final turn for the runway, the flight instructor radioed the tower and reported that “a loud bang” was heard and felt. The flight instructor believed the plane might have struck birds.