KENT ISLAND, Md. (AP) — A helicopter with two people aboard crashed into the Chesapeake Bay Saturday.
WRC reports that Maryland officials confirmed the two were found dead Sunday.
The helicopter crashed into the water about a half-mile off Bloody Point, on the southern end of Kent Island. The scene is about 20 miles southeast of Annapolis, Maryland, Maryland Natural Resources Police Capt. Brian Albert said. Natural Resources Police on boat patrol in the area were called to the Eastern Shore crash site about 12:30 p.m., Albert said.
County Emergency Services Department Assistant Chief Scott Wheatley said debris from the wreck dotted the water.
The helicopter took off from Tipton Airport, which is located near Fort Meade in Anne Arundel County, Queen Anne's County officials said in an emailed statement. Monumental Helicopters, which operates helicopter tours out of the airport, said in a statement that the helicopter was rented to a private pilot Saturday morning.
Authorities identified the dead pilot as Charles Knight, 38, of Mount Airy, Maryland. The passenger was Matt Clark, 36, of Pasadena, Maryland.
Trevor Hardman was fishing for rockfish with his 15-year-old son and his friend when he heard another boater report the crash over marine VHF radio. When he arrived at the site about a mile away, "there was nothing but pieces everywhere and jet fuel," Hardman, a Prince George's County firefighter, told The Baltimore Sun.
Hardman said he pulled a bag out of the water that contained a flight log and a maintenance record for the Cabri G2 helicopter, made by the French company Guimbal. He said he gave the records to the U.S. Coast Guard.
