Midair crash could have been deadly, school owner says | News

ANTIOCH, Calif. (AP) -- The owner of a helicopter flight school with a student who was involved in a midair collision over Rio Vista says the aircraft narrowly escaped what could have been a deadly crash.

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Wayne Prodger, the owner of Vertical CFI Helicopters in Hayward, told The Associated Press the 'copter pilot, a 29-year-old woman, is an experienced commercial airplane pilot who was logging night-flying hours toward a helicopter license.

Prodger said the woman told him she briefly saw the Beechcraft Bonanza behind her around 7 p.m. Sunday. The next thing she knew, the plane struck the chopper's skids and she was falling to the ground.

He declined to give his student's name, saying she's still shaken up. Both pilots suffered only minor injuries.

Prodger said it would have been a full-on collision if the Beechcraft was just a few feet higher.