One of the Pennsylvania State Police troopers injured in Wednesday night’s Cumberland County helicopter crash is from Moosic.
Trooper Jason Mills has deep roots in Northeast Pennsylvania, where he once worked as a state police fire marshal before leaving the post to become a PSP pilot.
Mills was one of two pilots aboard a Bell 407 helicopter that collided in midair with a Cessna 150 near Carlisle Regional Airport.
Previously based in Dunmore
Before taking to the skies for PSP, Mills was a Dunmore-based fire marshal who investigated fires and suspected arsons throughout Northeast Pennsylvania.
Mills eventually left his fire marshal position in Dunmore to become a pilot with the Pennsylvania State Police Aviation Patrol Unit.
During his time in NEPA, Mills investigated numerous fires, including a March 2019 blaze that destroyed the former Serafina Restaurant on East Drinker Street in Dunmore. Mills served as the state police fire marshal investigating the fire.
In July 2024, Mills investigated another fire on Drinker Street in Dunmore. A woman was rescued through a second-floor window during the blaze. Mills determined the fire started on a kitchen stove and ruled it accidental.
His work as a fire marshal also took him outside Lackawanna County.
In December 2025, Mills investigated a house fire on Lone Oak Drive in Paupack Township, Wayne County. Authorities later alleged the fire was intentionally set using a flammable liquid, and the investigation resulted in aggravated arson and other charges against the homeowner.
After several years investigating fires across Northeast Pennsylvania, Mills became a trooper pilot with the PSP Aviation Patrol Unit.
Shapiro: 'Grateful that they are going to be okay'
Mills and Corporal Bryce Corman were conducting a routine training exercise Wednesday when the crash ocurred.
The pilot of the Cessna, identified as 57-year-old Paul William Sokoloski of Hershey, was killed.
Mills and Corman survived the crash and were taken to Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. Both troopers were reported in stable condition following the crash.
Corman has since been released, while Mills remains hospitalized in stable condition, according to a state police release issued Thursday.
Dr. Ashley Ludwig, the hospital’s trauma medical director, spoke about their conditions during a Wednesday night press conference.
"Both of them thankfully came out with just minor injuries and are stable," she said. "We're very grateful that our colleagues with the Pennsylvania State Police are doing as well as they are."
Gov. Josh Shapiro praised the troopers as "members of the elite aviation unit with the Pennsylvania State Police, a unit that I'm very familiar with."
"These are people that move folks across this Commonwealth. They are people who lead important investigations, and they are people who are absolutely essential to the operations of the Pennsylvania State Police, and we're so grateful that they are going to be okay," he said.
FAA, NTSB to lead crash investigation
Acting state police Commissioner Lieutenant Colonel George Bivens said the crash remains under investigation, but preliminary information shows the helicopter was hovering over a grassy area, not on a runway, during routine training exercises, shortly before 7 p.m. Wednesday.
"As that Cessna came down along that runway, for an unknown reason, it veered hard to the right at the last moment. It struck the helicopter from the rear. The pilots would not have been able to even see that airplane approaching them," Bivens said. "It hit the the rear tail rotor and went into the main rotor of the helicopter, resulting in a very violent crash."
Bivens said the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board will head up the investigation, supported by the Pennsylvania State Police.
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