Time Out
8th Dec 2003, 22:55
A Hillsborough Sheriff's Office routine helicopter patrol over Ruskin went terribly wrong Sunday, but Chief Deputy David Gee says it could have been a lot worse.
Hillsborough Sheriff's Office Deputy Lester Hathcox says the chopper he was piloting lost power over a canal in Ruskin around 3:45 Sunday afternoon.
"He was in about 450 feet when he experienced the power loss so he just had a second to react and dropped the clutch on the helicopter and try and get it down," said Gee.
Somehow Hathcox guided the helicopter down.
"He was able to get the tail down into the mangroves first and soften the landing," said Gee.
Some neighbors recall hearing what happened next.
"Big chopping noise like the chopper was hitting trees and chopping the trees down," said Ruskin resident Alice Bruce.
Neighbors then rushed to the scene, hoping to find survivors.
Gee says the two deputies are quite fortunate.
"Some of the neighbors had jumped in the canal (and) swam across," said Gee. "One had taken his boat across the canal."
Rescuers found the pilot and his passenger, Deputy Bobby Walden, both 20-year veterans of the force, alive. The sheriff's office says the two sustained minor injuries.
A spokesperson with the sheriff's office says the FAA is investigating the crash and that the sheriff's office still has two other choppers.
This is the second time a sheriff's office helicopter crashed. The first crash happened in the early ‘80s.
source (http://www.baynews9.com/site/NewsStory.cfm?storyid=28905) - with picture (the caption of which reads: The chopper is no longer of any use!!!)
and
RUSKIN - Will Dalton had a remarkable Sunday.
It began when he watched a stranger, who appeared ill, abandon his car on Dalton's property, jump into a canal and disappear into nearby mangroves.
Dalton called the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office. Soon deputies were searching for the man on foot and in a helicopter.
Then Dalton and his neighbor Fred Vincent watched the helicopter fall from the sky into the mangroves just after 3:30 p.m.
"I was the one that said he was going down," said Vincent, 49, a construction worker. "I heard the engine start making noises, and trees started flying."
"The next thing you know, we dropped my boat in the water and went to find the pilots," said Dalton, 59, a computer systems administrator for the Hillsborough County Attorney's Office.
Chief Deputy David Gee said that when the helicopter made a "controlled landing," a mangrove tree about 6 inches in diameter skewered the bottom of the aircraft and came up between the legs of the pilot, Deputy Lester Hathcox. He suffered minor injuries to his left shoulder.
Deputy Robert Waldon, along for the ride as a pilot observer, walked away unhurt, Gee said.
Both men were taken to an area hospital for observation.
"If anything, they should be given an award for the way they handled it," Gee said, adding that Hathcox is the Sheriff's Office's instructor pilot. "He's probably one of the most experienced pilots we have."
Hathcox and Waldon have served with the Sheriff's Office for more than 20 years, Gee said.
Neither will be placed on administrative leave while the Sheriff's Office and the Federal Aviation Administration conduct separate investigations, he said.
Hathcox said the helicopter experienced a loss of power while flying at about 450 feet, Gee said. Hathcox turned the helicopter into the wind, causing the helicopter "to auto rotate," or glide down for a landing with the tail first.
The landing broke off the tail boom, totaling the aircraft and bringing the Sheriff's Office's fleet down to two choppers.
Gee estimated that the helicopter, a 1970s Jet Ranger, was worth several hundred thousand dollars.
"If (the landing) was not in a wooded area, the ship may very well be intact," Gee said. "It's probably going to be difficult to get it out of there."
Gee said the helicopter likely will stay where it is, behind a canal off South Canal Street near West Shell Point Road, for several days. It can't be moved until the FAA has had a chance to investigate the landing and the engine failure, he said.
Dalton, his wife, Sylvia, and Vincent said they jumped into action to help the pilots as soon as they saw the helicopter go down.
The tide was low in the marshy mangroves near Bahia Beach and the Shell Point Marina on Sunday afternoon.
"We were muddy up to the knees," said Sylvia Dalton, 57, a home health care nurse.
After five minutes of trekking through the mangroves, Sylvia Dalton said she heard the pilots calling out, "I'm okay! I'm okay!"
"Once we got there, we realized they were fine and helped lead them back" to the edge of the canal, where paramedics were waiting, she said.
Shortly after the fliers were taken for treatment, the man who had vomited in the Daltons' yard, then bounded into the canal "just walked out" of the mangroves, Gee said. Deputies didn't release his name.
Sgt. Alan Hill said later that whoever he was, "he checked out."
source (http://www.sptimes.com/2003/12/08/Hillsborough/Deputy_injured_in_cop.shtml) with picture and map
Heliport - perhaps you'd add them
Hillsborough Sheriff's Office Deputy Lester Hathcox says the chopper he was piloting lost power over a canal in Ruskin around 3:45 Sunday afternoon.
"He was in about 450 feet when he experienced the power loss so he just had a second to react and dropped the clutch on the helicopter and try and get it down," said Gee.
Somehow Hathcox guided the helicopter down.
"He was able to get the tail down into the mangroves first and soften the landing," said Gee.
Some neighbors recall hearing what happened next.
"Big chopping noise like the chopper was hitting trees and chopping the trees down," said Ruskin resident Alice Bruce.
Neighbors then rushed to the scene, hoping to find survivors.
Gee says the two deputies are quite fortunate.
"Some of the neighbors had jumped in the canal (and) swam across," said Gee. "One had taken his boat across the canal."
Rescuers found the pilot and his passenger, Deputy Bobby Walden, both 20-year veterans of the force, alive. The sheriff's office says the two sustained minor injuries.
A spokesperson with the sheriff's office says the FAA is investigating the crash and that the sheriff's office still has two other choppers.
This is the second time a sheriff's office helicopter crashed. The first crash happened in the early ‘80s.
source (http://www.baynews9.com/site/NewsStory.cfm?storyid=28905) - with picture (the caption of which reads: The chopper is no longer of any use!!!)
and
RUSKIN - Will Dalton had a remarkable Sunday.
It began when he watched a stranger, who appeared ill, abandon his car on Dalton's property, jump into a canal and disappear into nearby mangroves.
Dalton called the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office. Soon deputies were searching for the man on foot and in a helicopter.
Then Dalton and his neighbor Fred Vincent watched the helicopter fall from the sky into the mangroves just after 3:30 p.m.
"I was the one that said he was going down," said Vincent, 49, a construction worker. "I heard the engine start making noises, and trees started flying."
"The next thing you know, we dropped my boat in the water and went to find the pilots," said Dalton, 59, a computer systems administrator for the Hillsborough County Attorney's Office.
Chief Deputy David Gee said that when the helicopter made a "controlled landing," a mangrove tree about 6 inches in diameter skewered the bottom of the aircraft and came up between the legs of the pilot, Deputy Lester Hathcox. He suffered minor injuries to his left shoulder.
Deputy Robert Waldon, along for the ride as a pilot observer, walked away unhurt, Gee said.
Both men were taken to an area hospital for observation.
"If anything, they should be given an award for the way they handled it," Gee said, adding that Hathcox is the Sheriff's Office's instructor pilot. "He's probably one of the most experienced pilots we have."
Hathcox and Waldon have served with the Sheriff's Office for more than 20 years, Gee said.
Neither will be placed on administrative leave while the Sheriff's Office and the Federal Aviation Administration conduct separate investigations, he said.
Hathcox said the helicopter experienced a loss of power while flying at about 450 feet, Gee said. Hathcox turned the helicopter into the wind, causing the helicopter "to auto rotate," or glide down for a landing with the tail first.
The landing broke off the tail boom, totaling the aircraft and bringing the Sheriff's Office's fleet down to two choppers.
Gee estimated that the helicopter, a 1970s Jet Ranger, was worth several hundred thousand dollars.
"If (the landing) was not in a wooded area, the ship may very well be intact," Gee said. "It's probably going to be difficult to get it out of there."
Gee said the helicopter likely will stay where it is, behind a canal off South Canal Street near West Shell Point Road, for several days. It can't be moved until the FAA has had a chance to investigate the landing and the engine failure, he said.
Dalton, his wife, Sylvia, and Vincent said they jumped into action to help the pilots as soon as they saw the helicopter go down.
The tide was low in the marshy mangroves near Bahia Beach and the Shell Point Marina on Sunday afternoon.
"We were muddy up to the knees," said Sylvia Dalton, 57, a home health care nurse.
After five minutes of trekking through the mangroves, Sylvia Dalton said she heard the pilots calling out, "I'm okay! I'm okay!"
"Once we got there, we realized they were fine and helped lead them back" to the edge of the canal, where paramedics were waiting, she said.
Shortly after the fliers were taken for treatment, the man who had vomited in the Daltons' yard, then bounded into the canal "just walked out" of the mangroves, Gee said. Deputies didn't release his name.
Sgt. Alan Hill said later that whoever he was, "he checked out."
source (http://www.sptimes.com/2003/12/08/Hillsborough/Deputy_injured_in_cop.shtml) with picture and map
Heliport - perhaps you'd add them