Radio Feed Captured 'We're Going Down' Moments Before Arizona Police Helicopter Crashed, Killing Two Crew Members

A police helicopter that crashed in Arizona on the night of February 4, killing both crew members aboard, transmitted two loud banging sounds and a distress call of 'we're going down' over its radio feed seconds before impact, according to a newly released preliminary investigation report. The aircraft went down during an active law enforcement operation, claiming the lives of Arizona Department of Public Safety trooper paramedic Hunter Bennett, 28, and pilot Robert Skankey, 61. The helicopter had been providing aerial support to officers on the ground engaged in a rooftop gunbattle with a suspect in a Flagstaff-area residential neighborhood. Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board identified a significant mechanical failure involving the helicopter's main rotor system as the central factor in the crash. Three of the aircraft's four rotor blades came to rest approximately 165 feet from the main wreckage, while a fourth landed nearly 650 feet away. The tail boom and vertical fin showed extensive damage consistent with rotor blade strikes during what investigators described as a rapid separation sequence. Critically, the report found no evidence of ballistic punctures in the wreckage, indicating gunfire from the ground did not bring down the aircraft. Aviation safety experts describe the failure as an abrupt and uncontrolled mechanical uncoupling of the rotor system, which rendered the tail rotor ineffective and caused the helicopter to enter an uncontrolled spin at low altitude, leaving the crew virtually no time to recover. The suspect at the center of the ground operation, Terrell Storey, 50, was arrested following the incident and subsequently indicted by a grand jury on two counts of first-degree felony murder and dozens of additional charges including aggravated assault and burglary. A not guilty plea was entered on his behalf, with the next court hearing scheduled for April 16. Pilot Skankey was a Marine Corps veteran and father of four. Bennett was a top honors graduate of his law enforcement academy class who had joined the air rescue unit just months before his death. A final NTSB determination on the crash cause is expected within a year or more.