WOODS CROSS -- A veteran pilot with the Utah Department of Public Safety and a passenger were killed Friday when their helicopter crashed during what was described as a routine maintenance check.
Eyewitnesses said the aircraft's tail rotor appeared to fall off just before the chopper dropped from the sky and slammed into an open field east of Redwood Road near Skypark Airport at 2 p.m. The tail rotor landed in the middle of a street and narrowly missed a model home in a new subdivision.Utah Highway Patrol Lt. Tom Rettberg, 58, and Classic Helicopter mechanic Thomas Bahoravitch, 40, were killed immediately, authorities said.
Department of Public Safety spokesman Chris Kramer said it was too early to tell what may have caused the fatal crash. Federal investigators were due to arrive Saturday in Utah.
Kramer said the Bell Jet Ranger helicopter was built in the 1970s and purchased from the military in completely refurbished condition. It had seen 1,200 hours of flight time, he said.
The chopper that crashed was one of three that the department's Aero Bureau flew for a variety of law enforcement missions. After the crash the department grounded its other two helicopters.
One of the three choppers had been experiencing "quirky" problems, Kramer said. "It was nothing catastrophic but something we needed to explore."
But investigators did not immediately know if the helicopter that crashed was the one experiencing problems, Kramer said.
The Friday afternoon flight was a routine maintenance check not unlike taking a car in for an oil change, he said.
When it crashed, the helicopter slammed into the side of a muddy embankment, snapping the landing skids and ripping a hole just behind the cockpit.
Davis County Sheriff's Capt. Kenny Payne said UHP troopers were allowed to remove the bodies from the wreckage.
"It was fitting that they were able to care for their own."
The Friday crash stunned members of the Highway Patrol family, who recalled the 1994 death of UHP pilot Doyle Thorne, who was killed when his chopper went down near Strawberry Reservoir as he helped search for a missing 2-year-old girl.
Friends and colleagues said Rettberg loved his work. He joined UHP in 1975 and had been flying since 1978. He qualified for retirement years ago but continued to work, they said.
UHP Capt. Ike Orr said he and Rettberg were golfing buddies and said he had known the pilot for 20 years. "He got the most out of life. He lived it to the fullest. It seemed like he went after it with a vengeance."
"Tom is what I would call the ultimate professional," UHP Commander Ken Betterton. "I was always impressed with the fact that he loved law enforcement as much as he loved piloting."
In an interview with the Deseret News last year, Rettberg said that in 1968 he had a fear of heights and a $5 coupon for flying lessons in his pocket that he used to conquer that fear.
"I like helping people and trying to get them out of trouble," he said at the time. "I function best under that scenario. It brings out my flying juices. You are always in the hope that you are going to find them alive."
The crash occurred during a practice dive maneuver, said flight instructor Mike McMahon of Great Western Aviation at Skypark Airport.
McMahon was listening by radio as Rettberg describe his final maneuver in the helicopter.
"He said, 'We're going to be practicing auto rotation.' The next thing I heard is another pilot say a helicopter went down pretty hard -- call 911."
McMahon said the maneuver involves cutting power to the rotor and putting the helicopter in a controlled dive.
During the dive, the helicopter's blades will keep spinning, creating lift, even though the motor is idling.
As the helicopter approaches the ground, the pilot is supposed to pitch the blade angle up to slow the helicopter before it lands.
In a practice maneuver, "all they had to do was push the throttle forward" to recover from the dive, said McMahon.
He didn't know what went wrong.
Gov. Mike Leavitt said he planned to meet with family members to personally express his support and concern.
"I feel deep sadness that two men lost their lives today," the governor said in a statement. "We are all anxious for more information about this tragedy. My heart goes out to the families and co-workers of the victims."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.