Copter crash kills wildlife officer, 45
Posted on Monday, November 17, 2008
A 23-year veteran wildlife officer with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission was killed early Sunday when his helicopter crashed in Cleburne County during a routine night patrol for hunters poaching deer.
Sgt. Monty Carmikle, 45, of Heber Springs died about 1 a. m. when the helicopter in which he was a passenger went down in a private field about five miles northeast of Quitman, just off Arkansas 25.
The pilot, Jerry Fryar of Ozark, was treated at Conway Regional Medical Center and released.
“I’m doing well for the circumstances,” Fryar said in a telephone interview on Sunday. “My biggest concern right now is the Carmikle family.”
Keith Stephens, a spokesman for the state Game and Fish Commission, said Carmikle was the only passenger in the helicopter and was on a routine patrol, working with wildlife officers on the ground to spot hunters suspected of poaching deer at night with the help of spotlights.
Although modern gun season for deer opened Nov. 8, hunting deer is permitted only during daylight hours, he said.
“They did see some headlights, and they were moving in that direction when the pilot said he was going to put the helicopter down,” Stephens said, adding that the officers on the ground then lost contact with them.
The cause of the crash is unknown, he said.
According to witnesses, Stephens said, “It appeared the helicopter was coming down pretty quickly and made a hard landing.”
The helicopter, a Vietnamera Bell OH-58, stayed upright, Stephens said, but the impact knocked off the rotor blades and bent the tail.
Authorities moved the helicopter to a hangar in North Little Rock where the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board will conduct an investigation, Stephens said.
Fryar met Carmikle on Saturday evening just before they took off about 10 p. m. They were in the air for about an hour before the crash, Fryar said, and had refueled twice.
“We talked about our families and kids.... He has a son and I have two sons. We talked about that and other officers he knew,” Fryar said. “He was just a super, super man.”
Fryar, a contract pilot who had been flying for the Game and Fish Commission for about two months, deployed with Arkansas’ 77 th Aviation Brigade to Iraq last year as part of the 36 th Combat Aviation Brigade. He was part of two flight crews that ferried dignitaries and soldiers across Iraq.
Fryar declined to comment on what may have caused the crash.
Carmikle had been employed with the state Game and Fish Commission since the summer of 1985. He was married and had a teenage son, Stephens said.
Carmikle is the first state Game and Fish wildlife officer to die in the line of duty since two officers died in a plane crash in the early 1970 s, according to Stephens.
In a written statement, Wildlife Officer Maj. Mike Knoedl said his agency is deeply saddened by the death.
“Being a wildlife officer is a very dangerous job,” Knoedl said. “We’re trained for just about everything, but in this instance it was out of the officer’s control.”
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