A civilian helicopter that ran out of fuel made a rough landing about 2 miles south of Buckley Air Force Base this morning shortly after contacting the military facility by radio.
Buckley spokesman Sgt. Scott McNabb said the pilot would have been granted permission to land and refuel at the airbase had the helicopter pilot declared an emergency and explained his situation.
McNabb said officials at the base had no idea the civilian aircraft was facing an emergency.
“He requested permission to fly over our air space which was denied,” said McNabb. “What we found out was that he ran out of fuel but did not declare an in-flight emergency.”
Commercial photographer Bill Ross, a passenger in the helicopter, said he and the pilot had taken off from Centennial Airport about an hour earlier.
He said as they headed back to Centennial, the helicopter was running low on fuel, and the pilot asked permission to refuel at Buckley.
“He (the pilot) tried to stop at Buckley, and they said ‘no,’ and one minute after that, it started going down,” said Ross. “The pilot said, ‘Can we stop and refuel?’ and they said ‘negative.’ ”
“We went down real fast. It was like the Tower of Doom at Six Flags. We hit pretty hard,” said Ross.
Ross said the helicopter was heavily damaged: The tail came off and the rotors were bent.
The photographer said when the helicopter hit the ground, debris was thrown into the air and spewed around like shrapnel.
“(It) isn’t going to fly again,” said Ross.
He said that neither he nor the pilot were injured.
John Spann, another Buckley spokesman, said military officials suggested the pilot refuel at Centennial Airport but could not at Buckley because of its military status.
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com
