A Marine Corps attack helicopter pilot on a training flight in northern Maine made an unorthodox stop this weekend, landing in a sports field between a pair of soccer goal posts. The reason: a lost cell phone.



The Mount Desert Islander of Bar Harbor, Maine reports that the staff of the Thirsty Whale pub received a phone call from the local municipal airport. The caller had an unusual request: Could someone show up at the local sports field with a left behind cell phone? A helicopter will pick it up, the caller explained.

The staff assumed that the helicopter was LifeFlight helicopter, used to evacuate medical emergencies. One of the restaurant staff members dutifully went to field and discovered, to his surprise, that it was instead a U.S. Marine Corps AH-1W attack helicopter was waiting for him on the ground, with a UH-1Y Venom utility/light attack helicopter hovering overhead.

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An aircrewman jumped out of the helicopter, took the cellphone, and handed the restaurant employee a helicopter squadron patch velcroed to his flight suit. The AH-1W, also known as a “Whiskey Cobra” and the Venom promptly took off for parts unknown.

The unusual flight was likely prompted by the fact that the Hancock County-Bar Harbor airport is a half hour drive from the Thirsty Whale, just enough time to make driving all that way for a lost phone pretty inconvenient. Attack helicopters, on the other hand, can cover that distance in just a few minutes.

Using attack helicopters for unorthodox pickups is uncommon but not completely unheard of. In December 1986, two U.S. Army Cobra attack helicopters landed on the West German autobahn next to a McDonald’s to pick up hamburgers.

Source: Alert5

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