An Arkansas National Guard Black Hawk helicopter returned to the air after it made an unexpected landing in a field in Troup, Texas on Thursday, officials said.
Maj. Will Phillips confirmed on Friday afternoon that one of the Guard's helicopters suffered a transmission issue and made a precautionary landing. He said the landing occurred at 5:30 p.m.
“They decided to land for a possible electronic fault,” Philips said. “Nothing really major, but they wanted to set it down to make sure.”
The helicopter landed in a farm field south of Tyler, Texas, where the owner of the land allowed the crew to sleep in his barn.
"We got some good southern hospitality from neighbors in Texas,” Phillips said.
The Guard on Friday morning sent a Lokata helicopter manned with three helicopter maintenance technicians to join the Black Hawk crew that was already on the ground in Texas.
“The Black Hawk actually already had two [maintenance technicians] on board so we had a total of five people looking at this aircraft,” Phillips said.