TAYLORS ISLAND, Md. (AP/WBOC) - Maryland State Police say a private helicopter landed in shallow water just off the Dorchester County shore Tuesday evening. The two men aboard were not hurt, according to fire officials.
It happened about 5:30 p.m. Tuesday in Taylors Island in Dorchester County.
Maryland State Police Troopers identified the pilot Tuesday night as 45-year-old Vincent Giglio, of New Jersey.
The assistant fire chief on Taylors Island, Josh Tieder, tells WBOC the helicopter was en route from Patuxent River Naval Air Station to New Jersey when it lost power at about 3000 feet.
Tieder says the Patuxent River Naval Air Station lost contact with the helicopter about ten miles west of Cambridge just and sent a distress call to Dorchester 911 at 5:23 p.m.
Officers say Giglio made a hard landing in about 4 feet of water. Giglio and his passenger, 61-year-old Ronald Lopes of New York, got out of the helicopter and walked to shore, according to police. Tieder says Giglio had to have been a very experienced pilot to land the way he did. He says Giglio was able to auto rotate the chopper down, but couldn't quite make it back to the shore and put it down in the water.
Tieder says the investigation was turned over to the U.S. Coast Guard and the National Transportation Safety Board. As of 8:45 p.m., the helicopter was still in the water, but a private salvage company was going to be called to move it to land. Tieder tells WBOC he expects the plane to still be on the shore Wednesday morning.
At this time, troopers are calling the cause of the emergency landing a mechanical engine failure.
