I was riding in the left hand seat of a Bell HTL-1 on our way from Miami Coast Guard Air Station to Floyd Bennett Air Station in Brooklyn, New York. The engine started running rough and the pilot elected to land in what appeared to be an empty schoolyard in Salisbury, Maryland. The children were returning to the school from a recess and when we landed they all came out running towards the helicopter. The HTL was on wheels and as such the blades came lower to the ground. I jumped out to keep the kids away from the helicopter until the blades stopped rotating.
The problem turned out to be fouled plugs. I pulled the plugs and took them to a gas station across the street where I cleaned them. I installed the plugs and we checked out the power and flew off to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware where in landing the pilot severed the telephone line between the tower and the main hangar.
