PORTLAND, Ore. - The Oregon Department of Transportation is not happy with a helicopter pilot who flew dangerously close to the Interstate Bridge on Tuesday.

In fact, ODOT is so outraged over the incident that they have asked the Federal Aviation Administration and the U.S. Coast Guard to investigate.

"Reckless doesn’t even begin to describe this sort of behavior," said ODOT spokesman Dave Thompson.

What happened is that a helicopter flew down the Columbia River, went between the draw bridge towers and below the cables that connect the two structures.

A KATU employee witnessed the flight just before 11:30 a.m. and an ODOT crew was actually on the towers at the time. They were greasing the cables that lift the bridge when the helicopter flew on by, just as a bridge lift was about to begin.

"It's the most reckless thing that I've heard about in my seven years with ODOT," Thompson said.  "It's the scariest thing that I've ever even heard of."

We traced the helicopter to Hillsboro Aviation. The manager there, Morgan Kozloski, told us he was the pilot who made the flight. He said he was doing a low-altitude survey of osprey nests for the U.S. Geological Survey, which officials there confirmed was true.

Kozloski said he has flown over the bridge like that before and that it's a piece of cake - no different than flying around trees. He told us it is not illegal but hung up on us when we asked for an on-camera interview.

We talked with FAA officials in Seattle, and they said they are investigating.  They also said it is possible that the pilot did nothing wrong, especially if the helicopter crew had a special permit to fly at low altitudes. But whether it was legal for the pilot to fly underneath the cables and so close to the bridge remains to be seen.

Jim Kaiser, the U.S. Geological Survey biologist who was on board the helicopter, said he wondered if Kozloski might have violated air safety rules, but he didn't know because it's not his area of expertise.

"I didn't know if he had restrictions for clearing the top of the bridge or for flying under the bridge," he said. "I was a little surprised but I felt safe."

Kaiser said it happened so fast that he didn't see it coming but never felt threatened. After they cleared the bridge, he said they just went ahead with their survey of counting osprey nests along the Columbia River.