By Colin McAvoy with KRCR-TV & KDRV Staff
September 16, 2009
REDDING, Ca. - Carson Helicopters of Grants Pass faces more questions amid the release of the National Transportation Safety Board's initial report Wednesday into the investigation of the Iron 44 helicopter crash in Northern California that claimed the lives of nine men last year.
On the evening of August 5, 2008 seven Southern Oregon contract firefighters with Merlin-based Grayback Forestry, an Oregon pilot, and a U.S. Forest Service check pilot were killed when their helicopter crashed in the Siskiyou-Trinity National Forest east of Redding. Four people survived. The helicopter was ferrying firefighters away from a remote site on the front lines of the Iron Complex of wildfires when it crashed.
The over 500-page document includes interview transcripts, witness accounts, photographs and diagrams. The documents, however, do not contain the NTSB's final factual report, analysis or all of its findings regarding the crash. That report will come at a later date.
The Sikorsky S61N helicopter, operated by Carson, crashed during liftoff near Weaverville, California. According to the report, witnesses told investigators the aircraft seemed to hover just above the tree line, then came crashing down about 150 feet away, landing on its side, and then burst into flames. They noted the helicopter appeared to be having a very difficult time getting off the ground into a high enough position to travel and didn't appear to be full powered. One witness said he heard an unusual sound during takeoff, which he described as a snapping or grinding sound.
The crash is similar to four others in recent years also involving the same model Sikorsky. In those accidents mechanical failure involving the main rotors was to blame. Investigations showed those helicoptors also crashed during liftoff and were caused by a failure of a clutch mechanism that connects to the helicopter's five main rotors.
Just days after the crash the U.S. Forest Service requested that six other helicopters it was contracting from Carson be taken out of use and inspected. The inspections turned up "items of concern", including significant differences in the weights of the choppers during inspection and the weights carson submitted during the bidding process.
USFS suspended its contracts with Carson in October and asked the company to explain. The explanation the company provided was not enough for the USFS:
"The information we received and reviewed is still unclear... We continue to have the same questions on the weights of the helicopters."
USFS officials eventually terminated "for cause" all Carson's contracts, citing what it called the company's inadequate responses to notice inspections and its "failure to comply with contract terms and conditions".
In a statement released Wednesday Carson says it is working fully with the NTSB but cannot comment on the ongoing investigation. It went on to say it "continues to keep the accident's victims in its daily thoughts and prayers."
