In the tradition of famous offroaders in the Palin and Boebert clans, a Massachusetts man who took prescription drugs and drank a couple beers before slamming into a parked Blackhawk helicopter on the runway of a little-used airport he was snowmobiling on, the Associated Press reports, and now he’s suing the government for $9.5 million in damages.
The lawsuit says 48-year-old Jeff Smith had the permission of the owner of the private airport to ride his snowmobile on the property one night in March 2019, when he slammed into the tail of a Blackhawk helicopter when he was traveling at around 60 mph.
Smith claims the Blackhawk crew, which landed at the airfield as part of an exercise, did not do enough to light the attack copter or to let people know that it was there. Smith has already reached a settlement with the airfield owner. The government’s response is basically, “You ran into our parked helicopter.”