San Antonio Police Flight Crew Ready To Fly After Aircraft Destroyed In Hard Landing

"I remember the 'bang,' hitting the ground, like a car accident, getting in a car accident."

Those words came from co-pilot Mike Welborn, one of two San Antonio (TX) police aviators aboard a Schweizer 333 as pilot, Edward A. Ramirez, fought for control of the aircraft -- and for his life.

"Come on, auto! Come on, auto!" Welborn yelled to Ramirez, as the aircraft auto-rotated to a hard landing in a grocery store parking lot.

Ramirez and Welborn had launched at about 2:30 am CST Thursday from Stinson Airfield, responding to calls for assistance during a police chase. Within less than a minute, the two officers heard a series of bangs and felt an ominous shudder in their flight controls.

Then the engine quit.

Witnesses on the ground said they saw a flame shooting from behind the helicopter. The entire episode was captured on the helicopter's in-flight video recording system.

"Eagle, mayday Eagle!" Welborn said -- rather calmly -- on the cockpit tape. "We're going down!"

As Ramirez pointed the Schweizer toward the nearly-deserted parking lot, he spotted power lines in his flight path. Even as the aircraft was auto-rotating, he was able to maneuver above one line and beneath another before he could set down.

"Flare, flare," Wellborn shouted, as the helicopter dropped into the parking lot, barely clearing a four-foot high fence that surrounded it. Ramirez missed the power lines, missed the fence, but paid for his exploits with a hard landing that destroyed the Schweizer 333 and all the police equipment on board. Neither man was seriously injured (note: the aircraft involved is clearly identifiable as a Schweizer 333, although the FAA report lists it as a 269D -- ed.)

"We consider this a miracle," said San Antonio Police Chief Albert Ortiz. He called the landing a "do or die" situation and praised both Ramirez and Welborn for their courage and clear thinking.

FAA Preliminary Accident Report

IDENTIFICATION
  Regis#: 255TP        Make/Model: H269      Description: 269, 300, TH-300, SKY KNIGHT (TH-55 OSAG
  Date: 02/18/2004     Time: 0845

  Event Type: Accident   Highest Injury: Minor     Mid Air: N    Missing: N
  Damage: Substantial

LOCATION
  City: SAN ANTONIO                 State: TX   Country: US

DESCRIPTION
  SAN ANTONIO POLICE DEPARTMENT N255TP SCHWEIZER 269D ROTORCRAFT, A PUBLIC
  USE ACFT,  EXPERIENCED AN ENGINE FAILURE AND AUTO-ROTATED DOWN ONTO A
  PARKING LOT, TWO PERSONS ON BOARD RECEIVED MINOR INJURIES, ACFT WAS
  SUBSTANTIALLY DAMAGED, SAN ANTONIO, TX

INJURY DATA      Total Fatal:   0
                 # Crew:   2     Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   2     Unk:   
                 # Pass:    0     Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   
                 # Grnd:           Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   

WEATHER: SA 0853Z 19008KT 10SM CLR 11/10 3014                                       
                                                                                    
                                                        

OTHER DATA
  Activity: Public Use      Phase: Landing      Operation: Public

  Departed: SAN ANTONIO, TX             Dep Date: 02/18/2004   Dep. Time:     
  Destination: LOCAL                    Flt Plan: NONE         Wx Briefing: N
  Last Radio Cont: UNK
  Last Clearance: UNK

  FAA FSDO: SAN ANTONIO, TX  (SW17)               Entry date: 02/19/2004

FMI: San Antonio Police Department