Helicopter Downed By Arrow

LONGVIEW - If you want to bring down a helicopter with a bow and arrow, aim for the rear rotor.

That's how Cowlitz County sheriff's deputies say a man downed a Weyerhaeuser Co. chopper yesterday.

The copter made an emergency landing in a clearing three miles away, and those aboard escaped injury.

Ray Doyle of Shelton, who had been camping and hunting deer on Weyerhaeuser land, was arrested and charged with malicious mischief and first-degree assault.

Copter pilot Patrick Stack said he was maneuvering the Bell 206 Long Ranger 75 feet over the trees when he saw a man track it with his hunting bow and let fly. The aluminum arrow hit a rear stabilizing rotor, disabling it, and pierced the craft's metal skin.

"It could have had a disastrous result," Stack said.