TISDALE, Sask. — A Saskatchewan helicopter pilot has been charged after landing in a parking lot to allow a passenger to pick up an ice cream cake from a restaurant.
RCMP in Tisdale, about 200 kilometres northeast of Saskatoon, received a complaint on July 31 after the helicopter landed in a recreation complex parking lot, blowing dust and debris through the area.
Police said their investigation determined the landing was not an emergency: A passenger of the helicopter got out and entered a nearby Dairy Queen to buy an ice cream cake.
Officers found the pilot, a 34-year-old man from LeRoy, Sask., was licensed to drive the helicopter, but that it was illegal to land it where he did.
The pilot, whose name was not released by police, has been charged with one count of dangerous operation of an aircraft and will appear in court on Sept. 7.
Kiara Broeckel, who works at the Dairy Queen, said store employees didn’t know the customer had arrived by helicopter until the RCMP news release.
Since then, she said, town residents have visited to ask if there is going to be another fly by and if the ice cream cakes are really worth a helicopter trip.
“Apparently they are,” Broeckel said. “I wouldn’t think you would take a helicopter to go get ice cream, but I guess some people do."
— With a file from The Canadian Press
