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Sarasota Heliport Complains Sheriff's Copters Buzz Airfield

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By ANTHONY CORMIER

Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Published: June 2, 2008

SARASOTA COUNTY - A heliport operator has filed complaints with the Federal Aviation Administration and the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office, saying that deputies have nearly caused two crashes in the past six months and are flying too low over an airfield near the interstate.

Sidney Evans, president of Dove Heliport, says sheriff's office helicopters "buzz" his field regularly, and last week a student pilot was momentarily blinded when deputies flashed a large spotlight as he approached a landing strip.

In another incident about six months ago, Evans said a student pilot was taking off when a sheriff's chopper passed overhead. The aircraft were so close, Evans says, that "the pilot could see what the deputies looked like."

"It's amazing," he said. "These guys are going to get somebody killed."

Sheriff's spokesman Lt. Chuck Lesaltato said Monday that the agency is "looking into" Evans' complaints.

But Lesaltato said the department could not release information about the two reported near-misses because a captain in the aviation division is out of town, for as long as two weeks, and Sheriff Bill Balkwill could not reach him.

The agency would not say why the helicopter was flying on Thursday night or whether deputies have flown over Dove Heliport in the past.

The student pilot asked that his name not be used in this story, but says that he was flying a cross-country night flight — from Fort Myers to Sarasota — to earn a commercial license. He says that the deputies flew alongside him near Venice, disappeared for several minutes then approached his craft again about 11:30 p.m.

A deputy shined a large spotlight into the training helicopter, a much smaller aircraft than the sheriff's powerful Bell 407, and the student pilot could not see his instruments, Evans said.

The sheriff's office routinely uses its helicopter to track fleeing vehicles or to help during search-and-rescue operations. Often, the helicopter uses a camera to videotape events; it was not clear Monday whether the camera was used in this instance.

In complaints to the FAA, Evans says that deputies regularly fly over the airfield with little regard for students or a Bayflite chopper that is also stationed at the airfield.

Evans, who flew helicopters during the Vietnam War and has operated the heliport for more than 15 years, previously sent a complaint to the FAA when deputies flew too close to the airfield and nearly struck a student during take-off.

The airspace around Dove is not restricted, though the company owns a 2-mile radius around the field, which is on Center Road near Interstate 75. A handful of students learn to take off and land from there, and a crew of mechanics repair aircraft in a small shop.

Once a week, Evans says, a sheriff's helicopter will buzz overhead on its way to an emergency.

"I understand that they are working," he said. "What I don't understand is why they don't know that we're down here. I wouldn't take a helicopter over the airport and say, 'Gee, I hope an airplane doesn't take off right now.'

"That's how you have collisions."

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