Deputy Sheriff Pilot Brian Wilkinson, 33, of Lake Alfred, and Deputy Sheriff Flight Officer Larry Rhoden, 33, of Ft.
Meade, were killed when their Sheriff’s Office helicopter – a 1971 0H58 Bell Jet Ranger – crashed into a pond/pasture near Old Bartow Eagle Lake Road in Bartow (near Lake Hancock) shortly after 1 a.m. on October 22, 2001.
Wilkinson began his career at the Sheriff’s Office in 1994.
He joined the Aviation Unit in March of 2001.