Service helicopter in Arbor Park
If you were uncomfortable with the helicopter that kept taking off and landing in Arbor Park Monday, you weren’t alone. Dallas 9-1-1 operators fielded phone calls all morning from anxious neighbors, and police patrol cars circled the area soothing homeowners who’d come out into their yards. No criminal was on the loose, they reassured, and no major accident was necessitating medical evacuation. There wasn’t even a rock star or sports hero setting down to visit The Ticket’s Corby Davidson, who watched the scene with the rest of his neighbors and chatted about it on his Hardline radio show.
“It scared me to death,” said Kristen Harris. “I am somewhat immune to helicopter noise since we hear them occasionally, but this one was incredibly loud. I was scared to go outside because it literally sounded like it was landing on my roof. The water in my pool was waving pretty hard. My heart was racing and I ran to the front of the house, still seeing nothing. Then I ran over to the kitchen and saw it had landed in the field right next to my house.”
“My neighbor called 9-1-1 and four police cars came quickly. The copter guys explained that they were replacing the electrical wires in the tall poles in the easement with fiber optic cables, and that they had FAA clearance to do the work. They were very nice and understanding, especially since I learned that we weren’t the first ones to call 9-1-1. They said it should take 2-3 days and neighborhood service shouldn’t be disrupted. They said it’s faster to do this by helicopter than using trucks with ladders and bins. It might be faster, but I can’t imagine it being cheaper or less risky, landing so close to poles, wires and homes.”
“When the police came they did ask the copter guys to next time let the police know what’s going on so a dispatcher can be aware.”
The helicopter service, and the fuel trucks which service them, are expected to be working on LH poles and wires for several days this week.
The helicopter landed near the Harris home (right)
