You can see anything on Colfax Avenue, including a Eurocopter AS-350 AStar single-turboshaft helicopter.
The chopper, operated by the Kansas Highway Patrol, made a splashy landing near Colfax and Speer during rush hour on Wednesday evening, shutting down the road and catching a lot of bewildered looks.
The helicopter was visiting downtown Denver as part of the annual conference of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, which is being held in the nearby Colorado Convention Center from Saturday through Tuesday.
Flight logs show the whirlybird, call sign N670HP, made its way from Rose Hill, Kan., to Centennial Airport on Wednesday before flying a final quick leg to Colfax Avenue. (That’s according to a flight log.)
The flyer was then picked up with a forklift, according to comments and photographs posted to Reddit. The IACP didn’t immediately respond to a question about the landing, but we assume the rotorcraft will be displayed in the convention hall.
"The road was closed for 25 minutes, so the helicopter could land and be towed into the convention center," a Denver Police Department spokesperson wrote in an email.
Something similar happened in 2024: HCA HealthOne’s AirLife helicopter landed on the street near the convention center and was brought inside with the help of a forklift.
The helicopter is a relatively new one, entering service in October 2024, according to FlightAware.
IACP expects more than 16,000 attendees and 600 vendors at its annual conference. Topics this year range from artificial intelligence to gun violence, “battlefield medicine for the streets” and “the infinite game of policing.”
And, of course, there’s a helicopter.
