{"id":584993,"date":"2026-02-12T16:16:20","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T16:16:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/584993\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T16:16:20","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T16:16:20","slug":"fundraisers-to-support-families-of-dps-helicopter-crew-killed-in-flagstaff-crash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/584993\/","title":{"rendered":"Fundraisers to support families of DPS helicopter crew killed in Flagstaff crash"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"text | text-start article-text\"><b>PHOENIX (AZFamily)<\/b> \u2014 The first of three fundraisers to support the families of two Arizona Department of Public Safety <a href=\"https:\/\/www.azfamily.com\/2026\/02\/06\/dps-identifies-pilot-trooper-killed-flagstaff-helicopter-crash\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.azfamily.com\/2026\/02\/06\/dps-identifies-pilot-trooper-killed-flagstaff-helicopter-crash\/\">crew members who died<\/a> in a helicopter crash is happening in Phoenix on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | text-start article-text\">Pilot Robert Skankey, 61, and trooper\/paramedic Hunter Bennett, 28, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.azfamily.com\/2026\/02\/05\/2-dps-crewmembers-killed-helicopter-crash-flagstaff\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.azfamily.com\/2026\/02\/05\/2-dps-crewmembers-killed-helicopter-crash-flagstaff\/\">were killed<\/a> in the line of duty when their helicopter, Ranger 56, crashed while responding to an active shooter situation in Flagstaff on Wednesday, Feb. 4. The cause of the crash is under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | text-start article-text\">The Arizona Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 32 is partnering with the Arizona State Troopers Association to host a series of barbecue fundraisers to support their families. Details on all three events are below, the first of which is in the Valley:<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | text-start article-text\"><b>PHOENIX | Thursday, Feb. 12, 11 a.m. &#8211; 3 p.m.<\/b><\/p>\n<ul class=\"list | article-list\">\n<li>Arizona Department of Public Safety headquarters | <a href=\"https:\/\/maps.app.goo.gl\/ZdJe9BiCmBXqyoNX6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/maps.app.goo.gl\/ZdJe9BiCmBXqyoNX6\">2102 W. Encanto Blvd.<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Barbecue lunch and t-shirts for sale, donations accepted, raffle items<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\"><b>FLAGSTAFF | Saturday, Feb. 14, 11 a.m. &#8211; 3 p.m.<\/b><\/p>\n<ul class=\"list | article-list\">\n<li>Flagstaff City Hall parking lot | <a href=\"https:\/\/maps.app.goo.gl\/HVubfXuksXqJ5SVC6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/maps.app.goo.gl\/HVubfXuksXqJ5SVC6\">211 W. Aspen Ave.<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Barbecue lunch and t-shirts for sale, donations accepted, raffle items, live music<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\"><b>KINGMAN | Sunday, Feb. 22, 10 a.m. &#8211; 10 p.m.<\/b><\/p>\n<ul class=\"list | article-list\">\n<li>Mohave County Fairgrounds, <a href=\"https:\/\/maps.app.goo.gl\/99PDrns44Lr9LsE99\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/maps.app.goo.gl\/99PDrns44Lr9LsE99\">2600 Fairgrounds Blvd.<\/a><\/li>\n<li>T-shirts for sale, raffle items, rodeo barrel race<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"text | text-start article-text\">Donations can also be made online, through the <a href=\"https:\/\/fop32foundation.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/fop32foundation.org\/\">FOP Lodge 32<\/a> or the <a href=\"https:\/\/aztroopers.org\/ranger56\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/aztroopers.org\/ranger56\">troopers association<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"figure-img img-fluid mx-auto d-block\" alt=\"The crew of Ranger 56 that crashed in Flagstaff has been identified as Trooper Paramedic...\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/BHQ6GQNGEFAQJPLLWVVP6ZIAJU.png\" width=\"980\" height=\"551\" \/>The crew of Ranger 56 that crashed in Flagstaff has been identified as Trooper Paramedic Hunter Bennett (left) and Pilot Aviation Supervisor Robert Skankey (right).(Arizona DPS)<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | text-start article-text\">Skankey, a longtime resident of Kingman, served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1988-2010. He joined DPS in 2021 and was promoted to aviation supervisor in 2024.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | text-start article-text\">Bennett began as a DPS cadet state trooper in 2022 before being assigned to the highway patrol division the following year. He transferred to Western Air in 2024.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | text-start article-text\">Know of someone or an organization doing something good in your community? <a href=\"https:\/\/www.azfamily.com\/page\/something-good-nomination-form\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Nominate them for our segment here!<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"text | text-start article-text\">See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? <a href=\"https:\/\/www.azfamily.com\/page\/send-us-your-feedback\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Please click here to report it<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | text-start article-text\">Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send <a href=\"https:\/\/www.azfamily.com\/community\/user-content\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">it to us here<\/a> with a brief description.<\/p>\n<p class=\"copyright |\">Copyright 2026 KTVK\/KPHO. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHOENIX (AZFamily) \u2014 The first of three fundraisers to support the families of two Arizona Department of Public&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":584994,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5131],"tags":[5229,5643,1587,253429,50530,7182,253431,253430,253432,253435,1580,253434,1589,7183,253433,253428,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-584993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-phoenix","tag-america","tag-arizona","tag-az","tag-az-helicopter-crash","tag-azdps","tag-azfamily","tag-dps-chopper-crash","tag-flagstaff-helicopter-crash","tag-flagstaff-police","tag-flagstaff-police-shooting","tag-fundraiser","tag-hunter-bennett","tag-phoenix","tag-phoenix-news","tag-robert-skankey","tag-troopers-killed-az","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116058560312258537","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=584993"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584993\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/584994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=584993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=584993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=584993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}