Mike DeWine's helicopter lands in Springfield the week he blasts TPS ruling

Mike DeWine's aircraft — an Airbus H125 helicopter, tail N71HP — was tracked flying from White Oak Field (OH87) to Shootz Field (OI45), a private strip near Springfield, Ohio, on July 1, 2026. The 32-minute hop covered roughly 40 miles from the governor's Greene County farm to a small airport that has frequently served as his departure point for official travel.

Should Mike DeWine have been aboard, he would arrive a week after publicly excoriating a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that cleared the way to end Temporary Protected Status for over 10,000 Haitians living in Ohio, most of them in Springfield. [richlandsource.com](https://www.richlandsource.com/2026/06/25/dewine-criticizes-u-s-supreme-court-decision-ending-tps-for-thousands-of-haitian-migrants/) reported June 25 that DeWine called the policy “a mistake,” warning of economic and humanitarian fallout.

The flight fits a pattern: DeWine regularly uses state-owned aircraft — both fixed-wing and rotary — to shuttle between his rural home and official duties, often with the tail number obscured, as [Y-City News](https://ycitynews.com/25532/news/dewine-travels-state-in-million-dollar-plane-often-away-from-public-view/) documented. Whether for a meeting on the TPS crisis or a routine stopover, the movement signals the governor's attention zeroed on Springfield.