| Military Helicopter Makes Repair Stop At Perkins Field | |||
| By Rachel Brandes Moapa Valley Progress Published March 4, 2009 While many in Moapa Valley was either enjoying the Donkey Basketball Tournament or the Arts Council’s “Twelfth Night” performance on Monday evening, February 23, the Air Force was conducting routine training exercises in the skies near Moapa Valley. The crew flying an HH-60 (G) Pave Hawk Helicopter was in the area and realized their aerial in-flight refill probe had broken which caused a leak in fuel. The crew needed to make an emergency landing. With Perkins Airfield in Overton being the closest place to land, they put down on the runway. |
 A1C Matthew Jackson, A1C David Rasmussen, SrA Rich Eady and SSgt Joe San Agustin of the Air Force MRT (Mission Recovery Team) repaired an HH-60 (G) Pave Hawk Helicoptor on Tuesday, February 24. |
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| Local Metro responded and shut down Airport Road from Bader to Willow for approximately three hours. With the leaking fuel, Metro Sergeant Bret Empey wasn’t taking any chances until the spill had been contained.
The Air Force Mission Recovery Team was called in to repair the probe. The team arrived early on Tuesday and spent several hours repairing the 23 foot probe. While the broken probe lay on the runway it was undetermined as to how it would be transported back to Nellis Air Force Base. The Pave Hawk is a twin-engine medium-lift helicopter which conducts day or night combat search and rescue operations. This helicopter is versatile allowing it to also perform civil search and rescue disaster relief as well. The crew was able to put the helicopter down with a safe landing and no injuries were reported. |
