| HeliPilot skill avoids disaster |
Topeka Police Chief Ron Miller on Saturday praised the actions of 2 pilots who crash-landed a police department helicopter without injuring anyone late Friday on the Washburn University campus.
The incident, which police said was apparently caused by mechanical failure, led Miller to temporarily ground the helicopter unit pending the results of a federal investigation.
There were no casualties among the three people on board or anyone on the ground. However, the helicopter sustained severe damage.
"We're just thankful that no one was injured," Miller said. "The pilots did an excellent job of landing in this parking lot."
At 23:55 Friday, the crew reported to emergency dispatchers "they were going down," Miller said. "It was a controlled descent. They didn't have any power, but it was a controlled descent."
Miller said the pilots chose to land in the parking lot, which curves in an arc from the south to the west around the science hall and is just southwest of S.W. 17th and Washburn.
When the helicopter was about 3 or 4 feet above the ground, its rotor struck a parking lot light pole, Miller said.
"They were close to a controlled landing, and that's what flipped it over on its left side," Miller said.
The pole was about 65 feet south of the helicopter's apparent point of impact in the parking lot. The metal light pole, which is about 8 inches in diameter at the base and narrower as it rises, had two deep gouges several feet apart where the helicopter rotor struck it and buckled the pole.
"They almost had it landed," Miller said. "The pilots did an excellent job of landing the craft away from people and cars."
When a helicopter doesn't have power, the pilots use autorotation, which is using the pushing flow of air through the rotor to create lift, allowing the pilots some controlled descent, Miller said.
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