Arizona authorities and investigators are still working to determine why an Arizona Department of Public Safety helicopter crashed during a police gunfight last month, but the preliminary findings from the National Transportation Safety Board now emphasize what investigators did not see. A preliminary NTSB investigation report released Tuesday said the crash showed signs of a mechanical problem involving the aircraft’s main rotor rather than impacts from bullets fired into the air. A police-helicopter radio feed captured two loud banging sounds and a voice saying “we’re going down” just before the crash, according to the report.
The Feb. 4 crash killed trooper paramedic Hunter Bennett, 28, and pilot Robert Skankey, 61. Much of the helicopter’s fuselage, including the cockpit and cabin, burned in the crash. The NTSB preliminary report did not draw final conclusions about the cause, and the agency said more definitive answers are expected in a final report to come.
Investigators pointed to evidence they said was inconsistent with a ballistic cause. The NTSB preliminary report did not find signs of “ballistic punctures” in the wreckage, and it instead directed attention to a mechanical problem involving the main rotor. The report said three of the helicopter’s four main-rotor blades came to rest about 165 feet (50 meters) from the main wreckage, while the fourth blade landed about 650 feet (200 meters) away.
The report also described damage patterns near the helicopter’s tail section that it linked to rotor separation. It said the tail boom and the upper part of its vertical fin had “multiple impact marks and punctures consistent with main rotor blade strikes sustained during the separation sequence.” The report said part of the tail boom landed about 135 feet (40 meters) from the main wreckage.
John Cox, an aviation safety expert, told The Associated Press that there was clearly a mechanical problem with the main rotor but that it was still not clear whether the issue involved the transmission or another part of the helicopter’s engine system. Cox said the rotor problem appeared to have happened very quickly, describing it as “something uncoupled the rotor system” that became “uncommanded because it’s instantaneous and you never do that.” Cox added that because the helicopter was flying so low and slow, there was little opportunity to recover.
Jeff Guzzetti, who previously investigated crashes for the NTSB and Federal Aviation Administration, said it appeared that the main rotor blades struck and sliced off the tail boom, which would have sent the helicopter into the uncontrolled spin described in the report. He said the reason for the movement that led to that sequence was still unclear, but Guzzetti pointed to a possible abrupt and inappropriate movement of the collective—one of the flight controls the pilot moves to adjust rotor blade twist.
The crash occurred during a broader police response tied to a domestic violence call. Police said the suspect, Terrell Storey, was arrested after officers responded to a domestic violence situation and then got into a gunfight in which Storey allegedly hopped from roof to roof in a residential neighborhood while exchanging gunfire with officers. The indictment against Storey ties the case to the deaths of people who responded and those living near the scene, and the helicopter had been sent to provide a bird’s-eye view for officers on the ground.
Storey remained jailed as of Tuesday at the Coconino County detention center, according to jail records. A grand jury indicted him Feb. 12 on two counts of first degree felony murder and dozens of other offenses, including aggravated assault, burglary, disorderly conduct and endangerment. Court records cited by AP said a not guilty plea was entered on Storey’s behalf during a Feb. 23 arraignment, and the next hearing in the case was scheduled for April 16. Under Arizona law, felony murder charges can be brought if a suspect causes someone’s death “in the course of and in furtherance of” another crime such as burglary, kidnapping or sexual assault.
Storey’s attorney, public defender Jennifer Stock, did not immediately return a message seeking comment Tuesday, according to AP. The crash’s victims had backgrounds described by authorities and media reports: Skankey was a longtime resident of Kingman, Arizona, and had worked for the Arizona Department of Public Safety since 2021, while Bennett had been an honors graduate of Arizona State University and the top graduate of his 2023 Arizona Law Enforcement Academy class, transferring to an air rescue unit in 2024 and marrying his high school sweetheart months later.