HOPE – During the annual Heritage Days in September, residents of Hope look forward to whenever the military conducts a flyover prior to the Sunday afternoon parade.
But now, there’s a very real chance that a UH-60M Black Hawk helicopter will be allowed to land in the Hope Town Square.
“It’s not a sure thing,” town manager Jason Eckart told the Hope Town Council. “I would say we have a 50-50 chance.”
The idea emerged during the community’s first Cruise-in of the year on May 3. That’s when Eckart pitched the idea of a Black Hawk landing in Hope to a group of National Guard members from Shelby County.
The guardsmen came to Hope to place a highly-decorated National Guard truck in the car show for promotional purposes. Likewise, the Black Hawk might land in the northeast Bartholomew County community for similar reasons.
“They thought that was a really cool idea,” Eckart told the council. ”They want to pitch that to the Air National Guard.”
Shelbyville is the headquarters for the Indiana National Guard 38th Combat Aviation Brigade. In the spring of 2017, the brigade received 10 Black Hawks to replace their older fleet and improve their readiness.
But in order for the top brass at the Air National Guard to consider Hope’s request, they required a memorandum of understanding from the town that greatly limits the guard’s liability. Council members voted unanimously to approve the memorandum.
During peace time, the brigade in Shelbyville mobilizes, deploys and conducts a full range of aviation operations in order to provide the state with the forces, equipment, and aviation capabilities necessary to respond to state emergencies and other directed missions.
Since the park area has far too many trees, Eckart recommends a section of Jackson Street, located between Swiss Maid Country Mart and Willow Leaves of Hope, be sectioned-off for the helicopter landing. He suggests that it arrive in Hope at about 3:30 p.m., so local residents will have sufficient time to examine the Black Hawk before the cruise-in or other event begins.
“It’s plenty wide,” Eckart said. “A Black Hawk needs 40 feet of rotor clearance, and the street is 80-feet wide.”
But Hope Town Marshal Matt Tallent said it is important to make sure that no utility lines are in the way. Council member Ed Johnson expressed concern that the recently-purchased street lights are not in danger of being damaged.
In case the Air National Guard has too many reservations regarding a Black Hawk, the town will request that a smaller aircraft – a Eurocopter UH-72 Lakota – be sent in its place, the town manager said.
One of the top concerns expressed by the Air National Guard is that all loose debris is cleared from the landing area, so surface wind that spreads outwardly in all directions from the main rotor doesn’t create a dangerous projectile, Eckart said.
