How badly do you want ice cream? Bad enough to land a helicopter in a parking lot?

Tisdale RCMP allege a Leroy man did that and also landed in the middle of an RCMP investigation.

Around five o’clock in the afternoon on July 31, RCMP received a complaint that a helicopter had landed in a high traffic parking lot on 101st Street in Tisdale. The chopper blew up dust and debris through the area, which includes schools and an aquatic centre.

The landing wasn’t an emergency. A passenger simply exited the aircraft and entered a nearby restaurant to buy an ice cream cake. Officers determined the pilot, a 34-year-old man from Leroy, was licensed to fly the aircraft, but it was illegal to land it where he did.

The unnamed pilot has been charged with one count of dangerous operation of an aircraft. He will appear in court in Melfort on September 7.