A radio feed from a police helicopter captured two loud banging sounds and a voice saying “we’re going down,” just before it crashed, killing the two people on board, according to a preliminary investigation report released Tuesday.
The crash the night of Feb. 4 killed Arizona Department of Public Safety trooper paramedic Hunter Bennett, 28, and pilot Robert Skankey, 61.
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Much of the helicopter's fuselage including the cockpit and cabin burned in the crash. The National Transportation Safety Board preliminary report did not draw any conclusions about the cause but pointed to a mechanical problem involving the main rotor rather than bullets fired skyward: There was no sign of "ballistic punctures” in the wreckage, it said.
More definitive answers are expected in a final NTSB report a year or more from now.
Soon after the crash, police arrested Terrell Storey, 50, whom police allege hopped from roof to roof in a residential neighborhood while exchanging gunfire with officers.
The helicopter arrived to provide a bird's-eye view to help officers on the ground. Before crashing, the aircraft was circling back to the shootout scene when it slowed to almost a hover about 1,000 feet (300 meters) over a hilltop, according to public flight-path data.
The preliminary report focused substantially on the chopper's main rotor that malfunctioned before the crash. Three of the four rotor blades came to rest 165 feet (50 meters) away from the main wreckage. The fourth landed 650 feet (200 meters) away.
The helicopter's tail boom and upper part of its vertical fin, meanwhile, had “multiple impact marks and punctures consistent with main rotor blade strikes sustained during the separation sequence." Part of the tail boom landed 135 feet (40 meters) from the main wreckage, the report said.
There was clearly a mechanical problem with the main rotor but it’s not clear yet whether the problem was in the transmission or somewhere else in the helicopter’s engine, aviation safety expert John Cox told The Associated Press.
“Something uncoupled the rotor system and it did it very quickly,” said Cox, CEO of Safety Operating Systems. “According to the report, it was uncommanded because it’s instantaneous and you never do that. So there’s a mechanical issue there.”
Cox said the helicopter was flying so low and slow that there was little opportunity to recover.
Jeff Guzzetti, who used to investigate crashes for the NTSB and Federal Aviation Administration, said it appears 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.
“The reason for this is still a bit of a mystery, but could be an abrupt and inappropriate movement of the collective,” Guzzetti said. That is one of the flight controls the pilot moves to adjust how much the rotor blades twist.
Police allege their gunbattle with Storey began after they responded to a domestic violence call. As police spoke with the victim in the front yard, Storey allegedly shot at officers with a semiautomatic rifle and then he hopped from roof to roof.
Witnesses described taking cover in their homes after hearing the sound of gunfire outside.
After his arrest, Storey was initially hospitalized with non-life-threatening gunshot wounds. He remained jailed Tuesday at the Coconino County detention center, according to jail records.
A grand jury indicted Storey on Feb. 12 on two counts of first degree felony murder and dozens of other offenses, including aggravated assault, burglary, disorderly conduct and endangerment.
A not guilty plea was entered on Storey’s behalf during a Feb. 23 arraignment, according to court records. The next hearing in the case is scheduled April 16.
Under Arizona law, suspects can be charged with felony murder if they cause someone’s death “in the course of and in furtherance of” another crime such as burglary, kidnapping or sexual assault.
The indictment against Storey names as victims the 25 law enforcement officers who responded to the scene and people who live in homes in the area. Dozens of criminal counts against Storey include aggravated assault, burglary, disorderly conduct and endangerment as well as the two felony murder charges.
Storey's attorney, public defender Jennifer Stock, didn't immediately return a message seeking comment on her client's behalf Tuesday.
The helicopter pilot who died was a longtime resident of Kingman, Arizona, and had worked for the Arizona Department of Public Safety since 2021. Skankey previously served in the U.S. Marine Corps and was married with four children.
Bennett was an honors graduate of Arizona State University and the top graduate of his 2023 Arizona Law Enforcement Academy class. He transferred to an air rescue unit in 2024 and months later married his high school sweetheart.