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Wrecked police copter 32 years old
By TAMARA LUSH, Times Staff Writer
TAMPA -- Tampa police Lt. Jim Driscoll surveyed Monday what was left of one of the department's five helicopters. A fire extinguisher. Headphones. Police radios. Twisted shards of metal, one of which had the TPD seal on its side. The scraps gave Driscoll few clues as to why the pilot, Tampa Officer Gary Price, had to crash land Sunday. "It's too early to say," said Driscoll, head of the agency's aviation unit. "But we're leaning very strongly toward mechanical." The emergency landing wrecked the helicopter beyond repair and its occupants were injured. Price suffered a sprained back, and his partner, Paul Federico, two broken ribs. "They both want to come back and intend to come back," said Driscoll, who added that the men will need a doctor's clearance to return to work. Most of the helicopter is still at the crash site on the southern tip of MacDill Air Force Base. Authorities are waiting for the availability of a larger, more powerful helicopter and long slings to lift the wreck. When the helicopter is pulled off the shore, it will be taken to an airplane hangar where officials from the National Transportation Safety Board, the Federal Aviation Administration and the local police department will examine it. The 32-year-old helicopter had been flown 6,500 hours, said Driscoll. The bulk of those hours were for TPD; the agency acquired it in 1995 when it had 2,500 flight hours. Tampa police were able to get the military surplus helicopter for free as part of a drug interdiction program. Because the aircraft cost the agency nothing, it was not insured, said Driscoll. "It's not a monetary loss to the city," he said. A $300,000 surveillance camera installed in the helicopter last year was insured, Driscoll said. The helicopter, a Hughes OH6, was used during the Vietnam War, said Dick Fernandez, the agency's director of maintenance. The agency has three such military surplus helicopters; one was involved in Sunday's crash, another is grounded for maintenance and a third was involved in a emergency landing during a training exercise in January and is under repair. The agency also has two new helicopters. The Hughes OH6 choppers are built to allow the pilot to survive a crash, said Fernandez, who twice crashed that model in Vietnam. The agency has a meticulous maintenance program for all of its aircraft, he said. "People think that because they are 30 years old, they're not sound, but that's not the way it is," said Fernandez. "These things will happen in aviation. If it's made by man, it can malfunction."
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