Missing: One door

Posted at 3:45 PM on July 15, 2008 by Bob Collins (5 Comments)

The Minnesota National Guard is missing a door from one of its helicopters. It fell off today, somewhere over Maplewood and Oakdale.

"The helicopter was flying at approximately 1,500 feet when the incident occurred. The 2-foot by 4-foot plexiglas and metal door weighs approximately 150 pounds. The door has not yet been recovered, and there is no report of any injury or property damage at this time. Local authorities have been notified and are participating in the search," the news release said.

If you find it -- or it found you -- call the local police, officials said.

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Comments (5)

I work on that side of town and I think I see that helicopter almost every day flying directly west or east parallel to I-94, just about .5 miles north of the highway. I mean, if you're going to spend this beautiful day hunting down a helicopter door, that's where I'd look.

Posted by Aaron | July 15, 2008 5:07 PM

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The question I have is whether they knew they lost the door. I mean, geez, it's a helicopter. If it falls off....and then pinpoint the location for the cops.

But maybe they don't have anything but a pilot/co on those things, in which case it'd be hard to know it fell.

Posted by BobCollins | July 15, 2008 5:38 PM

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If it falls off....and then pinpoint the location for the cops.

But unless it was hovering at the time, it wouldn't have fallen straight to the ground. Yeah, if they knew it had fallen off, they could pinpoint a slightly more precise location, but you can't just say, "We were flying over such-and-such coordinates when we lost the door," and then, wham there it is directly below that spot on the ground. The Wind is a harsh mistress.

Posted by Eli | July 16, 2008 8:18 AM

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A coworker of mine who live in the area says it was found yesterday just northeast of Londin Ln and Lower Afton Road.

Posted by Aaron | July 16, 2008 8:53 AM

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They were flying at only 1,500 and the winds were pretty calm yesterday. 150 pound door isn't going to go too far off the lat/long when it fell.

The fact they said it could be anywhere from Oakdale to Maplewood tells me they had no idea it fell.

Posted by Bob Collins | July 16, 2008 1:04 PM

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