Jersey City pilot in critical condition after mid-air collision in South Jersey

Published: Tuesday, August 23, 2011, 3:00 AM
By Ken Thorbourne/The Jersey Journal

A Jersey City pilot who survived a mid-air collision on Saturday remained in critical condition yesterday at Cooper University Hospital in Camden, officials said.

Kirill Barsukov, 37, parachuted from his YAK-55M plane after it collided at around 1 p.m. Saturday with a plane flown by David Mitchell, 71, of Vorhees, near the Hammonton Municipal Airport, officials said.

Mitchell?s plane slammed into a wooded area several thousand yards from the airport and he died, Hammonton Police Capt. Nick Salvatore said yesterday.

Both pilots were flying in an area reserved for practicing aerial acrobatics, Salvatore said, adding that it is not known if the men knew each other or were practicing stunts at the time of the crash.

Barsukov had competed in an eastern chapter of the International Aerobatic Club from 2005 to 2010, according to the club?s website.

A hospital spokeswoman said yesterday that Barsukov does not have any immediate family in the United States.
Through the spokeswoman, the persons with him at the hospital declined to comment.

Barsukov was scheduled to be interviewed yesterday by officials with the National Safety Transportation Board, the agency investigating the crash, Salvatore said.

?The were both regulars at that facility,? Salvatore said about the crash victims. ?The other pilots knew them.?

Mitchell owned a food processing plan in Vorhees, Camden County, according to news reports.

Officials with the airport and the NSTB didn?t return phone calls yesterday for comment.