A Tennessee elementary school had an unexpected guest last Thursday morning when a damaged medical helicopter was forced to land. As reported by WSMV 4, the helicopter reportedly touched down on the parking lot of West Cheatham Elementary School just before 6:00 am local time.
The Cheatham County School District revealed the wild incident in a post to parents on
They added that parents would have to "work around" the bird as they dropped their children off. Photos attached to the post show the medical helicopter, branded with American stars and stripes, sitting in the parking lot in the pitch black.
It turns out that the reason behind its landing there was actually quite serious. They had to land because the tail rotor got damaged, meaning they couldn't fly it properly. According to the Cheatham County Sheriff's Office, the parking lot was the only real spot the pilots could use to land the helicopter. Luckily, a second chopper was called in to help transfer the patient, and they ended up being fine.
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The Helicopter Was Left There For a While
But while the chopper was left there for a few hours, the sheriff's office was quick to work with a tow company to get things sorted. According to WKRN, the helicopter was successfully removed from the parking lot at around 7:40 am local time.
People on social media had mixed reactions. One parent from the school reported that the chopper "didn't cause a disruption". They added that "the school drop off line went by just fine. I would rather them land there than crash somewhere."
Other people acknowledged the humor of the situation. One commenter wrote, "When we were kids at recess, that thing would have been a bouncy house," and several others saying something along the lines of "You can't park there!"
We're glad that everything's okay!
