Last week an eastern Nebraska ag pilot near Omaha became the latest victim of a shooting which involved minor damage to his helicopter. The pilot believes he was shot at three times during a turn-around between passes and hit by at least two of the shotgun blasts. The large number of pellets spread out and damaged numerous places on the helicopters skin including the cabin door.

Quick notification of law enforcement authorities by the operator and pilot led to the shooter being apprehended and arrested quickly. The operator also sought the advice of NAAA about other reports that should be made but fortunately the arrest came before any other notifications were necessary to aid in capture of the shooter. However, the operator followed through by reporting the incident to the FAA FSDO and the FBI regional field office after the fact.

In conversation with the sheriff’s office that made the arrest, the operator learned that the suspect was held in jail for four hours and then allowed to make bail and his weapons were not confiscated. The operator/victim asked the sheriff if a person had shot at the door of a car going down the road, would he be released in such a short time? His answer was “but that’s different.”

In either case, an injury to the driver or pilot can be serious. In addition, damage to aircraft control systems which may cause a crash may be even more serious than that of an automobile. NAAA is available to aide those in this situation to exert pressure on local or federal authorities and with electronic and press media to realize the danger caused by these careless acts and to ensure there are repercussions to those that execute such actions.