A Black Hawk helicopter on account of make a neighborhood relations go to to Standley Lake Excessive Faculty arrived barely later than deliberate after the crew by chance landed on the flawed college.
Employees and college students at Pomona Excessive Faculty, Colorado, had been moved inside from the varsity subject because the sudden helicopter approached to land. Faculty Principal Patrick Rock described it as a “distinctive incident” in an electronic mail to oldsters, which additionally assured no hurt had come to anybody consequently.
Pomona Excessive Faculty is roughly 4 miles from Standley Lake Excessive Faculty, within the Denver suburb of Arvada, the place the Black Hawk was on account of attend a Day With out Hate occasion. Army helicopters of varied nations make considerably common appearances at colleges and public occasions to assist reinforce neighborhood relations. The apply of touchdown the helicopter in an unfamiliar, and typically confined, touchdown space can be a coaching alternative for the flight crew.
College students and workers at Pomona Excessive Faculty in Arvada had been greeted with an odd shock Thursday morning — a army helicopter unexpectedly touchdown on the varsity’s subject.
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— Denverite (@denverite.bsky.social) April 25, 2025 at 3:29 AM
Approaching from the south, it will seem that the untimely touchdown was a easy case of misidentification. Pomona Excessive Faculty was located immediately south of Standley Lake and alongside the helicopter’s flight path. The Black Hawk touched down at Pomona round 11:30am native time on Thursday, Apr. 24.
After realizing their mistake, the flight crew took to the air as soon as extra for the brief hop north to the proper highschool, the place the go to, presumably, went with none additional issues. No harm to any amenities was famous at Pomona Excessive Faculty, the place, as they’d not ready for a helicopter arrival, there could have been unsecured objects that posed a international object particles (FOD) danger.
The HH-60M Black Hawk got here from Fort Carson, a U.S. Military publish round 80 miles to the south of Denver. Main Jeffrey Windmueller, a U.S. Military spokesperson, stated the reason for the crew’s mistake is at the moment unclear: “Upon realizing the discrepancy, the crew promptly relocated to the proper touchdown zone at Standley Lake Excessive Faculty with out additional incident”.
In accordance with Scramble, Butts Military Airfield, the airfield part of the Fort Carson advanced, is dwelling to 3 helicopter battalions flying a combined fleet of UH-60L, UH-60M, and HH-60M Black Hawks, CH-47F Chinooks, and AH-64E Apaches. The sixth Assault Reconnaissance Squadron, seventeenth Cavalry Regiment can be based mostly on the airfield with three flights of legacy technology AH-64D Apaches.
Faculty visits are one of many extra frequent outreach occasions which garner attendances from helicopters, typically tying in with an alumni of the varsity who now flies from a close-by base. In addition to offering a coaching expertise and helping with the service’s outreach technique, additionally it is used to generate curiosity in recruitment.
In December, particular visits are typically organized the place a member of the helicopters’ crew will play the function of Santa as a army or emergency companies helicopter brings them to a college to go to the kids and ship presents earlier than colleges break for Christmas.
