THE SIKORSKY S-61 THAT WENT DOWN TUESDAY NIGHT in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest is one of 12 helicopters operated by Carson Helicopters.  According to a company spokesman, all of them are currently being used in the western region.  One of the two-copilots is among the missing and presumed dead passengers.

Along with rescuers, inspectors from FAA and NTSB are en route to the crash site which is practically non-accessible.  The terrain is extremely rugged and heavily forested causing a slowed search for the nine missing victims.  A Forest Service spokeswoman said that a rescue crew had made it to the scene and was able to treat the four survivors but it was at least two hours before they were able to get them out.  Only one of the nine others has been located and his death confirmed.  The other eight are still missing.

This photo provided by the Redding Record Searchlight
shows what is believed to be the crash site identified by
GPS coordinates supplied by the Forestry Service.

Most of the 11 firefighting crew on board were employees of Grayback Forestry of Merlin, Oregon, a private contracting company.  The officials with Grayback are contacting relatives of the crew members asking for personal items that can be used to assist in identifying crash victims.  The San Francisco Chronicle reports that:

To battle wildfires, firefighting agencies around the country are increasingly using private contractors. The Forest Service spent $127 million on contractors to fight California wildfires in fiscal 2007, said spokesman John Heil. Private companies provide everything from aircraft to water trucks to catering and portable hand-washing stations at base camps.

Deborah Miley, the executive director of a private firefighting industry group called the National Wildfire Suppression Association, estimated that 40 percent of the personnel and equipment used to put out wildfires across the country comes from private contractors.

Tuesday’s crash was the worst involving firefighting aircraft, according to the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho. In 1972, seven firefighters perished in a crash in the Los Padres National Forest.

The Associated Press has this early video report:

LATE REPORTS COMING IN ARE SAYING THAT A Sikorski S-61 helicopter crashed in a remote area near Redding, California.

Earlier today it was learned that the craft had crashed last night leaving four people seriously injured.  However later today it was discovered that the helicopter was ferrying a fire crew of 11 forestry firefighters and 2 crewmen.  The plane suffered a hard crash and burned on impact.

Nine of the people onboard were killed and of the four survivors, two are in critical condition with all four of them suffering severe burns.  They were working a wildfire in Trinity County, part of a larger complex of blazes that total 135 square miles. Officials said the complex was about 87 percent contained.

According to KCBS-TV, The Sikorsky S-61 helicopter is the only wildland firefighting helicopter in the nation equipped to simultaneously carry both water and crew. It can simultaneously carry up to 18 firefighters and drop up to 1,000 gallons of water via a suspended bucket.

A Carson Helicopters S-61
similar to the one that crashed.

Cal Fire uses the aircraft to provide initial attack support on fires throughout California and to support firefighting efforts nationwide.  The helicopter was contracted out by a company named Carson Helicopters. The company is based out of Grants Pass, Oregon. 

KCRA Ch. 3 Sacramento has a video showing the type of helicopter that crashed HERE.

STATter911 is keeping up with the latest dispatches HERE.

Carson Helicopters WEBSITE.

This brief video shows the S-61 at work:

THE STILL PHOTOS OF THE B2 STEALTH Bomber crash in Guam on February 26 have just been released.  It was the costliest plane crash in the Air Force’s history and the wreckage burned for 6 hours.  It happened at the Andersen Air Force Base, Guam.

USAF photo

Air Force Times reports:

The photos were not among the pictures released in June when Air Combat Command issued the results of an accident investigation board inquiry. The board determined the $1.4 billion jet crashed shortly after taking off because water trapped in several sensors along the nose of the B-2 led sensors to send false information to the pilots and the plane’s navigation computers.

The automated navigation system, responding to incorrect data about the plane’s speed, altitude and angle, suddenly pitched the bomber’s nose upward, causing it to lose lift and fall to the ground.

The two pilots, Maj. Ryan Link and Capt. Justin Grieve of Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo., safely ejected before the jet’s left wing touched the ground, sending the bomber into a fiery 2,100-foot-long slide.

Neither of the pilots were faulted for the mishap.

Popular Mechanics has the photos and a timeline graph showing what happened, as well as links to earlier reports on the crash HERE.

JAMES TAYLOR, A REGISTERED NURSE WHO WAS THE ONLY SURVIVOR of last Sunday’s mid-air collision in Arizona of two helicopter ambulances died on Friday.  (Firegeezer report on the collision HERE.)

The 36-yr.-old man had been in critical condition since the accident and was being treated at the Flagstaff Medical Center.

He was a registered nurse at St. Mark’s Hospital in Salt Lake City and was working his second job as a flight nurse in Arizona at the time of the crash.  He was flying on one helicopter that was ferrying a patient from the south rim of the Grand Canyon to a Flagstaff hospital.

The Associated Press has a video report:

*  *  *  *  *

The last of the wreckage from the two helicopters was transported away from the crash scene on Thursday and the NTSB investigators have relocated to Phoenix where they will continue to examine the flight evidence to determine what happened.

Wreckage of the Guardian Air helicopter involved in a midair collision of two medical helicopters sits on a flatbed trailer ready to be transported to Phoenix, where it will be reconstructed as part of the NTSB investigation into the crash. (Jake Bacon/Arizona Daily Sun)

Using flight recording data, they recreated each of the flights on Wednesday looking at angles and sight lines.  A surveillance camera at the hospital parking lot a 1/4-mile away recorded the collision in real time and was used to tape the recreations to use as an overlay.  One of the tail sections was disclosed to have what appears to be rotor damage on it.

The Arizona Daily Sun has a good story on the current state of the investigation HERE.

TWO AIR AMBULANCES, BOTH BELL 407 HELICOPTERS, COLLIDED IN THE AIR near a hospital in Flagstaff, Arizona, Sunday afternoon.

Flagstaff firefighters knock down remaining
hot spots of one of the helicopters.
(Flagstaff Police Dept. photo)

The latest count has six people dead and one critically injured.  The two aircraft were approaching the Flagstaff Medical Center when they collided around 3:45 pm local time.  One of the planes was operated by Air Methods Corp. of Englewood, Colorado, and had three people onboard including a patient.  All three perished.

The other aircraft was operated by Classic Helicopters of Woods Cross, Utah, and had four people onboard.  Three of them died and the fourth, a nurse, was critically injured.  Both helicopters were headed for the hospital and were less than a mile away from the facility when they hit and spun out of control.  Fire officials said one landed on Switzer Mesa - also called McMillan Mesa - and  other landed downhill in a heavily wooded area.

KTVK

A spokesman for the Flagstaff Police Dept. said two rescue workers were slightly injured in a secondary blast as one of the helicopters on the ground exploded.  “They were treated for minor burns injuries [sic] and were released from the hospital in good condition,” Sergeant Tom Boughner told a Reuters reporter by telephone from the crash site.

The crash started a brush fire that burned 10-15 acres before it was contained.

Flagstaff Police Dept. photo

The Arizona Republic has the latest REPORT.

The Associated Press has this video report:

 

A MAJOR IMPROVEMENT IN JET ENGINE DESIGN has generated excitement in aviation circles.  Dave Demerjian of WIRED magazine starts his story:

Pratt & Whitney has spent the better part of two decades developing the geared turbofan engine that burns 12 to 15 percent less fuel than other jet engines and cuts carbon dioxide emissions by 1,500 tons per plane per year. It’s being called one of the most exciting developments commercial aviation has seen in years…

“It’s technology like that geared turbofan that’s going to drive fuel efficiency forward for this industry in the short and medium term,” says Earnest Arvi of the Arvi Group. “Alternative fuels show great potential, but they’re decades away.”

What makes this fan jet different from the others is the geared turbine.   Current jet engines have fans that suck air into the combustion chamber, where it is compressed, mixed with fuel, and ignited. Then it’s blown through a turbine, generating thrust. It works, but it’s inefficient because the fan is connected to the engine and turns at the same speed as the turbine. Fans work best at low speed, while turbines work best at high speed.

Pratt & Whitney solved that problem with a gearbox that lets the fan and turbine spin independently. The fan is larger and it spins at one-third the speed of the turbine, creating a quieter, more powerful engine the company says requires less fuel, emits less C02 and costs 30 percent less to maintain.

 The new engine is expected to be in production by 2013.

Pratt & Whitney photo

For the full details, read the complete article HERE and you also learn some other interesting tidbits such as:  If every commercial flight in the U. S. could shave 1 minute off its flight time, there would be a savings of 1.9 million tons of fuel annually.

A BRUSH FIRE WAS STARTED ABOUT 20 MILES NW OF LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, Saturday when a private airplane crashed onto a mountain.

CBS / Rick Plummer photo

The single-engine Piper Cherokee had four people on board and was flying from North Las Vegas to Byron, California, when it struck a power line and crashed.  All four passengers perished when the plane hit and broke into flames at the 7,000 ft. level of Mt. Charleston.

CBS / Plummer

Fire officials say the fire spread and climbed the steep and parched terrain of the Spring Mountain Recreation Area and came within a half-mile of a housing subdivision.  Bureau of Land Management spokeswoman Kirsten Cannon says nearly 40 homes are threatened by the 12-acre fire.

CBS / Plummer 

Authorities have ordered an evacuation of the subdivision. They expect to fully contain the blaze by 6 p.m. Sunday.

Fox News has the STORY.
Las Vegas Channel 8 has a video REPORT.

TECHNICALLY, IT WAS A CORRECT DISPATCH.  But when the Windsor, Ontario, firefighters arrived on the scene they weren’t expecting to find an airplane on fire beside the roadway.

A small, 2-seater plane had just left the Windsor airport a short while before when the engine conked out and the plane began to descend.  The pilot was trying to guide the plane onto a highway when the wheels clipped a power line and flipped the plane onto the grassy area between the road and a railroad track.

Windsor Star photo of the crumpled remains
of the small plane that crashed Sunday.

A neighbor, George Demarce, who saw the crash grabbed his attached garden hose and pulled it as close to the flaming wreckage as possible.  “I just sprayed as much as I could,” he said.  “That one guy stuck inside was yelling pretty good. He was engulfed in flames,” Demarce’s wife Jan said later. “Seeing someone on fire, it’s scary. But you still carry on with what you have to do.” 

His actions no doubt helped save the lives of the two men who were trapped and burning aboard the plane.  Both of them are in the hospital with burns and related injuries.

The Windsor Star has the complete STORY.

THE AURORA MUNICIPAL AIRPORT, JUST WEST OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, had to call the Sugar Grove Fire Protection District Saturday afternoon after a home-made aircraft crashed and burned.

WMAQ

Or more precisely, burned and crashed.  The unidentified pilot had just taken off when a fire flared up in the engine compartment.  He immediately returned to the private airstrip and attempted an emergency landing.  But when he touched down, his landing gear collapsed and he skidded out of control about 1,000 feet down the runway before coming to a stop.

He then bailed out of the burning airplane, but escaped with only some singeing to the back of his head.  It isn’t known yet if he was authorized to use the plane.  By the time the FD arrived on the scene, the fire was pretty well out and the plane was completely destroyed.

Chicago Ch. 5 has the STORY.

AIR TREK, ONE OF AMERICA’S OLDEST AND LARGEST AIR AMBULANCE SERVICES, has had its operating license revoked.

In late February, Firegeezer reported HERE on a surprise raid by Federal authorities on Air Trek’s main offices in Punta Gorda, Charlotte County, Florida.  Following an investigation into Air Trek’s maintenance records and operating practices, the FAA at first suspended their operating license on May 23.

Air Trek had three crashes in three years’ time resulting in six fatalities.  In addition, it was discovered that their maintenance records were not in accord with their actual practices.  On June 5 the FAA inspectors attempted to conduct further inspections of their aircraft at the Punta Gorda airport and were denied access to the planes.  The inspectors were asked to vacate the firm’s property.

As a result of these actual and attemped inspections, the FAA has determined that Air Trek “is unable or unwilling to maintain operational control of its air carrier operations” and that they are “unable or unwilling to operate to the highest degree of safety….”  The agency then fully revoked Air Trek’s operational authority on June 10.

The FAA’s emergency revocation letter cited 14 air traffic safety regulation violations, including flying aircraft that had not been deemed safe, failure to follow weight guidelines, deceptively recording maintenance shortfalls, allowing pilots to make international flights without proper training or certification, and letting pilots fly after they had failed required tests. 

You can read the entire 34-page letter at the airtrek1 watchdog group’s website HERE (.pdf format).

Air Trek employs about 50 pilots and physicians and is currently down to 8 aircraft.  They were licensed to fly to anyplace in the Western Hemisphere including Cuba.  A large portion of their business was Dept. of Defense contracts to transport sick and injured military personnel.

Clicking on Air Trek’s WEBSITE brings up an “under construction” message.  The aforementioned watchdog group’s website has a large body of information about the firm and its operations HERE.

THE FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION IS TAKING A CLOSE LOOK  at air ambulance operations.  There have been four fatal crashes in less than six months and they want to know if it’s indicative of a trend, or just an “unfortunate cluster” of events.

LaCrosse Tribune photo

A similar rash of accidents in 2006 generated a safety review that resulted in new rules forcing pilots to be more cautious, especially at night and in poor weather.  These last four crashes, which killed 13 people, all took place at night and in areas where the pilots had no visual points for reference, such as over forests or bodies of water.

“The recent spate of accidents has the FAA’s full attention.” Alison Duquette, spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration told USA Today.

Read the complete USA Today article HERE.

THE 19-YR.-OLD COMPASS AIRLINES FLIGHT ATTENDANT who was arrested last month (Firegeezer report HERE) for setting a fire in his plane while aloft, pleaded not guilty in federal court Thursday in Fargo.

Compass Airlines stock photo

The airplane was en route from Minneapolis to Regina, Saskatchewan, and carrying 72 passengers when Eder Rojas went into the rear lavatory and set the paper towels in a wall dispenser on fire.  The plane had to make an emergency landing in Fargo, North Dakota.  Rojas was arrested a week later after questioning and has been held without bail.

After Thursday’s hearing, U.S. Magistrate Judge Karen Klein released Rojas to the custody of his father, Juan Rojas, of Chicago. Prosecutors had asked Klein to keep Rojas in jail.

During the hearing, prosecuters disclosed that Rojas was also on a plane five weeks earlier that had a similar fire in the bathroom and he helped put that fire out, too.  That case is still under investigation, however.

Trial is scheduled for July 21. Rojas faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. He may be ordered to pay restitution for damage to the plane.

The Associated Press has the latest report HERE.
Compass Airlines WEBSITE.