SARASOTA COUNTY — A heliport operator has filed complaints with the Federal Aviation Administration and the Sarasota Sheriff's Office, saying that deputies have nearly caused two crashes in the past six months and are flying too low over an airfield near the interstate.

Sidney Evans, president of Dove Heliport, says Sheriff's helicopters "buzz" his field regularly, and last week a student pilot was momentarily blinded when deputies flashed a large spotlight as he approached a landing strip.

In another incident about six months ago, Evans says a student pilot was taking off when a sheriff's chopper passed overhead. The aircraft were so close, Evans says, "the pilot could see what the deputies looked like."

The airfield is near Interstate 75 and has been in the same spot for nearly 15 years. It is home to half a dozen helicopters, a small repair shop and a medical crew that flies a Bayflite helicopter to emergencies throughout the region.

Evans says he complained to the FAA six months ago about the same issue, but nothing has changed.

"It's amazing," Evans said. "These guys are going to get somebody killed."

Sheriff's spokesman Lt. Chuck Lesaltato said Monday that the agency is "looking into" Evans' complaints.

But Lesaltato said the department could not release information about the two reported near-misses because a captain in the aviation division is out of town, for as long as two weeks, and Sheriff Bill Balkwill could not reach him.

The agency would not say why the helicopter was flying on Thursday night or whether deputies have flown over Dove Heliport in the past.

The student pilot asked that his name not be used in this story, but says that he was flying a cross-country night flight -- from Fort Myers to Sarasota -- to earn a commercial license. He says that the deputies flew alongside him near Venice, disappeared for several minutes, then approached his craft again at about 11:30 p.m.

A deputy shined a spotlight into the training helicopter, a much smaller aircraft than the Sheriff's Office's powerful Bell 407, and the student pilot could not see his instruments, Evans said.

The Sheriff's Office routinely uses its helicopter to track fleeing vehicles or to help during search-and-rescue operations. Often, the helicopter uses a camera to videotape events; it was not clear Monday whether the camera was used in this instance.

In the complaint to the FAA, Evans says that deputies regularly fly over the airfield with little regard to students or the Bayflite chopper.

Evans, who flew helicopters during the Vietnam War and has operated the heliport for more than 15 years, previously sent a complaint to the FAA when deputies flew too close to the airfield and nearly struck a student during take-off.

Pilots are required to file "near mid-air collision" reports to the FAA, although the report was not available in a federal database. It can take several months for investigators to make the reports public.

The airspace around Dove is not restricted.

Once a week, Evans says, a sheriff's chopper will buzz overhead on its way to an emergency.

"I understand that they are working," he said. "What I don't understand is why they don't know that we're down here. I wouldn't take a helicopter over the airport and say, 'Gee, I hope an airplane doesn't take off right now.'

"That's how you have collisions."

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