Two police officers were uninjured and able to successfully land one of the St. Louis County Police Department’s helicopters when the tail rotor broke off Thursday during a training flight, but no one was injured.
Members of the Metro Air Support Unit — which services the entire St. Louis metropolitan area including St. Louis County, St. Louis city and St. Charles County — were training at the Spirit of St. Louis Airport at 18270 Edison Avenue in Chesterfield.
At around 3:15 p.m., in the course of an exercise, one of the main rotor blades of the aircraft bowed and struck the tail boom, police said. As a result, the tail rotor was cut from the rest of the helicopter.
The helicopter was occupied by two St. Louis County Police officers at the time of the accident. They were able to successfully land. Both are uninjured.
The Metro Air Support Unit has an additional four helicopters, so service to the region will remain unaffected.
The helicopter in the accident was manufactured in 1968 and flew in Vietnam. Following that, it was given as a military surplus aircraft free from the state of Missouri.