Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to include comments from Adriana Davalos.
An unexpected helicopter landing in an Olathe shopping center attracted a crowd and police late Sunday evening and created some social media buzz.
Adriana Davalos, a Kansas City-area content creator and influencer who goes by KC Lifestyle Girl on social media, said she and her boyfriend had just finished dinner at Johnny’s Italian Steakhouse in Olathe when they heard a helicopter right above them.
“It was very low, and I was like, ‘I want to see what the heck is going on,'” Davalos said in a phone interview with the Post on Tuesday morning.
Thinking something was wrong or the helicopter may be in trouble, Davalos followed its circling path until it set down nearby on a narrow grassy median in the parking lot of the Olathe Station shopping center, 15135 W. 119th St., between the Courtyard by Marriott hotel and the AMC Studio 28 movie theater.
“I was pretty astonished and amazed. Again, this is a public parking lot, a helicopter just landed like, ‘What’s going on?'” Davalos said.
Flight records show the helicopter, a 2004 Robinson R44 II, took off from the Kansas City Downtown Airport at 8:25 p.m. Sunday and flew south along Interstate 35 to Olathe. It put down at Olathe Station at 8:40 p.m.
The landing area was approximately 125 feet from an apartment building in The Park at Olathe Station Apartments, 12215 S. Strang Line Court.
Davalos said an Olathe police cruiser pulled up soon after the helicopter landed. She saw several people get out of the helicopter, with the person she presumed to be the pilot shaking hands with the officer.
“They looked like everyday people, just regular people, so I figured, ‘OK, this is not some sort of like corporation or business,'” she said.
“They parked in a spot where I could tell they knew they weren’t gonna damage anything or anybody. A car did pass by it, and if you watch my video, you can hear me say, ‘Bro, bro, there’s a helicopter right there. Be careful, because you could drive right past it,” Davalos said.
Olathe Police Department spokesperson Sgt. John Moncayo told the Post on Monday afternoon that officers were nearby and responded after they saw the helicopter land.
“There was nothing to suggest an emergency landing of any kind,” Moncayo said. “Officers made contact with the occupants and notified the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) for follow-up at a later date.”
“Stopping for dinner”
Federal law states that helicopters are allowed to operate below the minimum safe altitudes prescribed for fixed-wing aircraft as long as “the operation is conducted without hazard to persons or property” on the ground.
After talking to the police and several curious onlookers, four people loaded back into the helicopter and returned to the air at about 9:30 p.m.
One of the four people on board the helicopter posted a now-deleted selfie on Instagram, with the helicopter in the background and the caption, “Stopping for dinner.”
The user who posted the selfie goes by the handle tsupp19 and describes himself as a fitness and health coach “helping men obtain their dream physique.”
The same account posted a second selfie, which was also deleted, a short time later, showing the same man back inside the helicopter and the caption, “they wouldn’t let us have dinner.”
Davalos said after she posted her video of the helicopter landing on Sunday night, she got in contact with the man who posted the selife.
She said he told her, “They were hungry for Texas Roadhouse. So they stopped for Texas Roadhouse.”
View this post on Instagram
Same helicopter made other landings in JoCo in recent weeks
After taking off Sunday night, the helicopter again followed I-35 back toward downtown Kansas City, Missouri, and landed at the Kansas City Downtown Airport at 9:49 p.m.
According to the FAA, the helicopter is registered to Yankee Helicopters LLC of Plainville, Connecticut.
The Google business listing for the business has them listed as “Temporarily closed.”
Yankee Helicopter’s website says the company offers tours of New York City, the Thimble Islands and the Connecticut River. They also provide a heli-taxi service in Connecticut and New York City.
Online flight tracking from FlightRadar24 shows the helicopter left Connecticut on March 14, making several stops as it was flown west to Kansas City, arriving on March 17.
The same flight tracking shows the helicopter appearing to make other unconventional landings near 91st Street and Metcalf Avenue in Overland Park on March 19, and along the Kansas River in northwestern Shawnee on March 21.
The Post reached out to the FAA for comment on this story late Monday afternoon and has yet to hear back.
For Davalos, it was a memorable and serendipitous night documenting local goings-on for her more than 80,000 followers on Instagram.
“This is definitely up there as an interesting sighting,” she said.
Kyle Palmer contributed to this report.
