Pilot: 'Don't Worry About Ultralight Helicopters Falling Out of the Sky'

Mattituck resident Erwin Rodger walked away without serious injuries from his ultralight helicopter after he

Rodger told on Thursday that after he fixed the starter on the helicopter’s engine to return home from an afternoon of sightseeing at the beach near the Inlet, the hour was getting late and visibility was poor — bad enough for him to misjudge altitude and hit the marsh.

Read the full Suffolk Times’ interview with Rodger here.

But the crash left at least one resident of a community already up-in-arms about increased helicopter noise wondering about how safe these ultralight aircraft are and what kind of regulations pilots are supposed to follow.

“This is pretty scary stuff from the perspective of someone who lives right near the Inlet,” wrote Candice Vadala as a comment to the breaking news piece on North Fork Patch. “What if it had hit one of our homes?”

, an ultralight aircraft cannot weigh more than 254 pounds by Federal Aviation Administration standards, cannot carry more than five gallons of fuel and must be flown during daylight hours over unpopulated areas.

And ultralight aircraft pilots are not required to have a pilot's license.

“It sounds to me like he just misjudged the situation and took a hard landing,” Fischetti said. “Twilight is the worst time to fly those things.”

But Fischetti said that at 254 or less, the craft would not cause much damage if it did hit a building. And, he added, he’s not seen too many of these sorts of craft buzzing around on the North Fork.

“I wouldn’t worry about ultralight helicopters falling out of the sky,” he said.

According to , the exact cause of the incident is currently under investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration.