DAYTONA BEACH SHORES — A Volusia County sheriff's helicopter that made a forced landing on the beach Wednesday after the crew experienced a shudder in the engine is back at its hangar where it is being inspected, a sheriff's spokesman said.
The helicopter has been taken out of service temporarily, said sheriff's spokesman Gary Davidson.
The helicopter, one of several in the fleet referred to as Air One by the Sheriff's Office, was on a routine flight when the crew felt a shudder in the engine and decided to make an emergency landing as a precaution, said Davidson.
The crew, including pilot Budd Darling, picked a safe location to land on the beach, approximately 1 to 1½ miles north of Ponce Inlet. This was near the 4600 block of
The crew brought the helicopter down about 10:24 a.m., with it landing normally and under power, resulting in no injury to the crew or damage to the craft, Davidson said.
After everything checked out during a visual inspection and preliminary field testing while on the beach, the flight crew flew the helicopter to
Everything checked out during the stopover so the crew flew the chopper to DeLand, where it arrived about 1:40 p.m.
“We still don't know what caused the shudder, but we're continuing to evaluate the helicopter and have temporarily taken it out of service while checking it out,” Davidson said. “This will in no way disrupt our aviation services since we have two other helicopters in the fleet.”