Cochise County Search & Rescue
(SAR) at Parker Lake.
Minute after we pulled into Site #3 at
the USF Parker Lake campground, a Choice County Sheriff's helicopter
began buzzing the area, flying repeatedly low overhead. At first, we
thought it might be a training exercise. But not long afterwards,
Cochise County Sheriff's Deputies and SAR Staff began staging at the
Parker Lake Store parking lot.
Occasionally, the county helicopter
would land in the parking area and we could see officials
conferring with each other. By and by the county helicopter
departed toward the Huachuca Mountains and, CHA-ZAAM, the legendary
DP Bell Jet Ranger arrived on the scene.
Boy-Oh-Boy, that's when The Air Show began. The county pilot had been very conservative, flying at a safe high altitude and also doing very slow turns and maneuvers. All that safety stuff went right out the window with the DPS pilot. It was a truly breathtaking display of aerial daring. We couldn't even believe how incredibly fast the DPS helicopter flew so daringly low over the tops of the trees. At times it appeared as if the DPS chopper' skids were touching the top branches of the trees. The chopper flew into impossibly tight turns and dips. It was often so low, it stirred up large swirling dust clouds. The one time it passed right over our campsite, it was probably less than 50 feet overhead.
The DPS acrobatics rivaled anything we've seen in old Vietnam movies. That DPS pilot did practically ever tricky maneuver possible with his chopper. It wouldn't surprise me if he was actually pushing the cockpit plexiglass into the vegetation! Some of his low passes were so close to the trees and rocks, it seemed impossible that he could somehow avoid either collision or having his rotors ripped up by the trees. Finally, the light level dropped down to near darkness and the DPS chopper wisely headed back toward home bae in Tucson.
A SAR volunteer patrolled through the campground and he told us a local woman went out for walk in the morning and never returned. Her husband called in a “missing report.” Not long after we chatted with the SAR volunteer, all the Deputies and SAR Staff abruptly packed up and left. POOF, just like that.
We spent the evening discussing what kind of various scenarios could have unfolded. There were no indications whatsoever of a recovery having taken place. Nor was there any sign that the “missing person” had been found and brought back by SAR Staff or the DPS chopper. We surmised the “missing person” must have been found alive and well someplace else other than where she was thought to be missing.
Susun talked to a Sierra Vista fisherman the following day and he said he hadn't heard anything on the morning news before departing for Parker Lake. We also encountered a local couple who saw the same scenes we saw. They had not heard anything either. We will most likely never know what happened. However, regardless of the outcome of the SAR activity at Park Lake, we witnessed some of the wildest helicopter aerial acrobatics and daring-do we've ever seen.
We apologize that some of the photos are blurry. We lucky ANY of the photos are in focus—that pilot was flying so fast it made our heads spin!
Boy-Oh-Boy, that's when The Air Show began. The county pilot had been very conservative, flying at a safe high altitude and also doing very slow turns and maneuvers. All that safety stuff went right out the window with the DPS pilot. It was a truly breathtaking display of aerial daring. We couldn't even believe how incredibly fast the DPS helicopter flew so daringly low over the tops of the trees. At times it appeared as if the DPS chopper' skids were touching the top branches of the trees. The chopper flew into impossibly tight turns and dips. It was often so low, it stirred up large swirling dust clouds. The one time it passed right over our campsite, it was probably less than 50 feet overhead.
The DPS acrobatics rivaled anything we've seen in old Vietnam movies. That DPS pilot did practically ever tricky maneuver possible with his chopper. It wouldn't surprise me if he was actually pushing the cockpit plexiglass into the vegetation! Some of his low passes were so close to the trees and rocks, it seemed impossible that he could somehow avoid either collision or having his rotors ripped up by the trees. Finally, the light level dropped down to near darkness and the DPS chopper wisely headed back toward home bae in Tucson.
A SAR volunteer patrolled through the campground and he told us a local woman went out for walk in the morning and never returned. Her husband called in a “missing report.” Not long after we chatted with the SAR volunteer, all the Deputies and SAR Staff abruptly packed up and left. POOF, just like that.
We spent the evening discussing what kind of various scenarios could have unfolded. There were no indications whatsoever of a recovery having taken place. Nor was there any sign that the “missing person” had been found and brought back by SAR Staff or the DPS chopper. We surmised the “missing person” must have been found alive and well someplace else other than where she was thought to be missing.
Susun talked to a Sierra Vista fisherman the following day and he said he hadn't heard anything on the morning news before departing for Parker Lake. We also encountered a local couple who saw the same scenes we saw. They had not heard anything either. We will most likely never know what happened. However, regardless of the outcome of the SAR activity at Park Lake, we witnessed some of the wildest helicopter aerial acrobatics and daring-do we've ever seen.
We apologize that some of the photos are blurry. We lucky ANY of the photos are in focus—that pilot was flying so fast it made our heads spin!
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