Police Helicopter Crashes on Pilot Testing Mission

A Los Angeles police helicopter on a pilot proficiency testing mission crash-landed in the grass near a runway in Los Alamitos on Wednesday, but the two officers aboard were not seriously hurt. The helicopter, an Aerospatiale Astar 350B1, was the same model involved in the June 13 crash near Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum that killed two officers and a man on the ground, Police Lt. Fred Nixon said.

Officers Ira Putnam, 42, and Theresa McIntosh, 31, were aboard when the helicopter crashed at 12:05 p.m. at the Los Alamitos Armed Forces Reserve Center in northern Orange County, where the testing was taking place, Nixon said. Putnam was treated for back pain at a hospital and released.

Police said the helicopter was severely damaged and that the officers were extremely lucky to walk away from it. Nixon said none of the department’s other five Astar helicopters was grounded because of Tuesday’s crash.