Maryland State Police Helicopter Trooper 7, stationed in St. Marys County, is back in service as of 5 p.m. Oct. 1 .
Trooper 7 was taken out of service as a result of a fatal accident involving Trooper 2, a medevac helicopter, on Sept. 28. Maryland officials subsequently grounded the state’s entire fleet of aircraft pending an inspection and flight checks.
Baltimore’s Trooper 1 was back in service on Sept. 30. The Maryland State Police Aviation Command will incrementally return all aircraft to full operations as other inspections are completed.
Major Andrew J. McAndrew, commander of the Aviation Command, directed Trooper 7 to resume operations after ground and in-flight checks of its glide slope equipment were completed.
Helicopter Transport Services, an independent aviation company, has been conducting the ground tests of the glide slope equipment in each State Police helicopter. Following HTS’s tests, Major McAndrew has directed that each aircraft be tested by a State Police instructor pilot to ensure the glide slope equipment is functioning properly during flights.
In Trooper 1’s case, the aircraft, piloted by Steve Miller and Keith Patterson and a crew of flight paramedics First Sergeant Elizabeth Beck, Sergeant Paul Schneiderha, and Major McAndrew, lifted off from Martin State Airport and flew to the State Police hangar at Andrews Air Force Base.
In addition to being a test flight, Trooper 1’s trip was in honor of those lost their lives — State Police pilot Stephen J. Bunker, 59 of Waldorf; Trooper First Class Mickey C. Lippy, 34 of Westminster; the State Police flight paramedic, Tanya Mallard, 39 of Waldorf and an EMT-B with the Waldorf Rescue Squad; and Ashley J. Younger, 17 of Waldorf a patient in the aircraft — in the crash of Trooper 2.