National Guard leaves helicopter in field

DIXON, Mo. -- Pulaski County sheriff's deputies have gotten plenty of reports about unattended vehicles.

But an unattended helicopter?

That's what a sheriff's deputy found Friday night, after a Dixon-area man told dispatchers he had seen two helicopters land in a field near his home.

When Deputy Jimmy Bench agreed to go to the scene about 9:40 p.m., he said he was expecting the witnesses to be drunk.

"When I got there, they told me two helicopters were there, one of them had left, so I went out in the field with the reporting party, and the closer I got, I saw it really was a helicopter," Bench said.

The helicopter was locked and bore U.S. Army markings. The deputy called dispatchers and asked them to contact military police.

Fort Leonard Wood personnel told dispatchers they didn't know anything about a missing helicopter. After calling around some more, dispatchers found out the aircraft belonged to a Missouri National Guard unit near Jefferson City.

Missouri National Guard Capt. Tammy Spicer said Wednesday that one of the helicopters was headed to Fort Leonard Wood to conduct flight training but had to make a precautionary landing the warning light had come on.

The second helicopter, which already was at Ford Leonard Wood for training, flew to the field to pick up the crew of the problem helicopter. The crew left the helicopter there with plans of returning the next day to work on it.