Accident knocks King Co. sheriff's helicopter out of service
RENTON, Wash. - One of the helicopters operated by the King County Sheriff's Office will be out of service for a while after an accident at the Renton Airport late Friday morning.
The chopper, known as Guardian One, was taking off from the trailer used to wheel it in and out of the hangar, when it slipped somehow - a move described by KOMO AIR 4's pilot Gary Pfitzner as skateboarding - and the tail rotor struck the ground.
Some debris from the rotor went flying, but no one was hurt.
The helicopter, one of four operated by the department, is the only one equipped with an infrared camera used to track suspects on the ground.
The accident is under investigation.
The chopper, known as Guardian One, was taking off from the trailer used to wheel it in and out of the hangar, when it slipped somehow - a move described by KOMO AIR 4's pilot Gary Pfitzner as skateboarding - and the tail rotor struck the ground.
Some debris from the rotor went flying, but no one was hurt.
The helicopter, one of four operated by the department, is the only one equipped with an infrared camera used to track suspects on the ground.
The accident is under investigation.
KOMO, did you really have to include the statement about the IR? Let's send the bad guys even more reasons to be stupid, shall we?
Was there a flight plan filed?
@Harrison Only the very few will understand the irony of this statement.
Wouldnt matter if there was a flight plan or not.
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 @rwgav8 relax, I was only being facetious. Media tends to highlight the lack of a "flight plan" with aviation accident /crash stories. Glad everybody walked away ok.
Now the "Ghetto Bird" is just Ghetto
 @31F You made me spit my coffee out!! LOL!
 @31F That should be comment of the year! Way to sneak it in right at the end!
Will wait for the NSTB report
NTSB... need the edit feature back, please
 @Komo Dragon Maybe we could work out a deal, and in exchange for getting the edit feature back we can trade the "drop my response onto any random post or comment, rather than the one to which I clearly clicked reply" feature?Â
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 @HUH! That's not interesting at all.
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@HUH! The current chief pilot is a very experienced pilot. They haven't said who was flying. Let's see what the accident port says. At least no one was injured. Unfortunate that it will be under repair, this helicopter is used for a lot of things, hope it gets fixed ASAP.
 @HUH!  @DudeIncognito this one is only a couple of years old and extremely well maintained ... sorry
That's too bad, they are used a lot. K9's too, who are usually busy somewhere else when asked for by Officers.
Whenever there is an incident with aviation - no matter how minor - the stupidity comes out. Â
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Great! Now the crooks know the camera is out of order.
They have 4 helicopters? Might want to go with drones like the SPD and avoid these costly human errors.
 @Klondiko There are 2 helicopters. As usual, KOMO is wrong.
 @watcher  @Klondiko There are four. An older OH-58 which is rarely used, the 407 shown here, a Huey equipped with a winch for SAR and SWAT insertions, and a 'new' surplue UH-1 which just arrived.Â
It's the trailers fault? It's the choppers fault? I think I can use those excuses if I get into an accident with my car! I've ALWAYS been under the impression the "operator" was to be in total control at all times. Oh, the engine was running and at idle..........so if in the same situation when at idle at stop sign in my car, I can use an excuse it skateboarded on me. Don't use tie downs but side bars to stop sideways movement would work.
 @Michael E. Campbell Could have been a wind gust. (HS Squadron in the 70's)
I feel safer already.
Renton has an airport?Â
@lakeview: In case the previous comments, including Vexorg's, went over your head, here is why everyone is foaming at the mouth over your ludicrous statement. Boeing's Renton plant, where ALL 737s are built is located next to Renton's Municipal Airport. Obviously, their first flights all originate there. So here are some new instructions for you since your apparent attempt at humor failed: Open mouth wide, insert either right or left foot, chew vigorously.
 @lakeview No, they actually haul the 737s over to Boeing Field on a truck when they're done building them.
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 @the unvarnished truth Cut the poor guy some slack. He has a view of a retention pond but someone told him it was a lake.
Does it not seem in this day of modern technology and engineering that there should be a better way of doing this? I understand that s^&t happens but it sounds like a way of moving aircraft from a hangar leftover from the Wright Brothers.
No tie-downs???? How dumb izzat?
@Common-Tater Tie downs are used when the aircraft is parked outside on the tarmac.
 @what? The bird is stored in a hangar and the dolly platform is used to move it out of the hangar. There would be no tie-downs needed in the hangar, and once the bird is off the platform, it flies away.
but, if they used tie downs, they could land it by any hangar, and move it into that hangar...Â
 @Common-Tater It's really hard to fly off of a platform with tie-downs in place.
@Glassman @Common-Tater Difficult to fly anywhere with tie downs in place.
 @Glassman Hi Glassman - good point.
 @Common-Tater @Glassman Apparently the trailer needed the tie-downs.
glad no one was injured.
I bet somehow it's SPD fault!!
 @aintno1special KING COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT equipment, not SPD.
@Common-Tater @aintno1special Sarcasm: a form of comedy that was invented in New York in the '60s but never made it out west.
 @nodozr  @aintno1special I teach sarcasm as a second language to my grandkids!
 @Common-Tater Yes I can read. It is called sarcasm...just don't know what font to use to identify it.
 @aintno1special Â
You could get web immortality and design a "sarcasm" font...