GONZALES - The pilot of a State Police helicopter sustained minor injuries in a crash landing near the regional airport in Ascension Parish Wednesday afternoon.

According to flight data, WBRZ tracked the aircraft from the Baton Rouge airport and it is seen flying over the regional airport in Ascension near Pelican Point, navigating abruptly back north before its flight data stops tracking, indicating it went down.

State Police revealed little about the situation in a news release Wednesday, explaining that the chopper pilot performed an emergency procedure to get the aircraft on the ground.  The landing was so hard it significantly damaged the aircraft and injured the pilot.

The State Police pilot, who was not identified, was taken to the hospital with minor injuries.

The helicopter was a 1986 Bell 206 B-3, State Police said.

As is procedure in aircraft-related incidents, the FAA will investigate, State Police said. 

Flight records show the helicopter was 20-minutes into a flight when the crash landing occurred.  The chopper took off from the Baton Rouge airport at 2:02 p.m. and it went down around 2:22 p.m.