Colorado pilot facing charges after illegally landing helicopter inside Grand Teton National Park
A pilot from Colorado is facing charges after illegally landing his helicopter inside Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. The National Park Service took a photo that shows where Peter Smith set the aircraft down on the western shore of Jackson Lake.
Park rangers said when they investigated, they found Smith and a companion picnicking nearby.
Smith owns West Elk Air in Gunnison. He told the Associated Press that bad weather forced him to land and that his passenger was ill.
This is not the first time Smith has been charged with violations at a National Park. In February, he was cited for flying a fixed-wing aircraft below safe altitude in Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park in Western Colorado.
