CONTACT:
Sgt. Heidi Murphy
603-271-3361
October 9, 2023
Croydon, NH – At 10:20 p.m. on Sunday, October 8, 2023, the NH Fish and Game Department was notified of a possible helicopter crash in Croydon. JBI Helicopter Services out of Pembroke NH, reported that one of their helicopters departed from their location in Croydon at approximately 7:30 p.m. Soon after it departed, the helicopter could not be tracked on RADAR by the employers. Generally a position is sent from the helicopter every couple of minutes to enable the pinpointing of the helicopter’s flight pattern. It was scheduled to fly to a job site in Quonset, RI, and arrive later that evening.
NH Fish and Game Conservation Officers, the NH State Police Helicopter Unit, and members of the Croydon Fire Department responded to Pine Hill Road in Croydon to search for the missing helicopter. At approximately 1:50 a.m. on Monday, October 9, the helicopter was located by a ground search crew in the woods off Pine Hill Road. The helicopter had sustained substantial damage and the pilot, who was the sole occupant, was found deceased. Conservation Officers and members of the Croydon, Springfield, and Grantham Fire Departments assisted in the short carry out to an awaiting UTV to bring the deceased to the road for transport by Newton-Bartlett Funeral Home.
The pilot was identified as Carl Svenson, 73, of Loudon, NH. Svenson had been a pilot for approximately 50 years and started working for JBI Helicopter Services in the 1980s. The cause of the crash is still under investigation.