
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, February 19, 1991                   TAG: 9102190488
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-2   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE                                LENGTH: Short

COPTER MALFUNCTION DELAYS QUEEN'S TRIP

A major in the Danish Air Force said his country's queen and crown prince were never endangered by a helicopter's emergency landing Monday en route to Monticello. But it did caused a commotion among their compatriots.

Danish Queen Margrethe II shrugged off the transportation glitch that delayed her tour of the home of Thomas Jefferson and attendance at an art history seminar at the university Jefferson founded.

The U.S. Navy helicopter carrying the queen and her husband from Williamsburg to Charlottesville was forced to land when it experienced mechanical problems, officials said. No one was injured and the helicopter was not damaged.

"The queen is calm about the situation. She is not in any way concerned," said Christian Olsen, a Danish diplomat.

The helicopter was at the midpoint of the 120-mile flight when it developed problems in its tail rotor about 10:20 a.m. Monday.

Those riding in a helicopter ahead of the queen's saw the craft turn and go in another direction, said Henning Olsen, a spokesman for the Danish Foreign Ministry.

The aircraft landed at an airstrip in Hanover County near Richmond about 10 minutes later.

by CNB