The Region - News from June 16, 1986

Rotor failure forced a sheriff’s helicopter down at the shoreline of Santa Catalina Harbor, moments after it brought a doctor to the University of Southern California decompression clinic on the island, authorities said. No one was injured in the forced landing that left the damaged chopper sitting in several inches of water south of Isthmus Bay, Deputy Rick Adams said. The helicopter, piloted by a sheriff’s sergeant with a lieutenant as a passenger, had moments before dropped off an unidentified doctor to treat a diver brought to the decompresssion chamber for treatment of the bends. Just after lifting off, the chopper’s tail rotor apparently failed, causing the craft to drift powerless into the water, Adams said. Petty Officer Jose Rosario said the diver, Timothy Donavan, 27, was in stable condition.