Sikorsky S-61N
Continue readingUtah contracts for two Type 1 helicopters
Exclusive use for 90 days
Continue readingHelicopter crashes in Hawaii, killing four
An S-61N operated by Croman was transporting an external load for the military
Continue readingProtests for new helicopter and air tanker contracts may not be decided until July or September
Four companies filed protests with the GAO
Continue readingMore information about Croman’s S-61A crash
It was initially described as a “hard landing”. However, information from the FAA and a photo we received indicate an incident that involved one of Croman’s S-61A Sikorsky helicopters on August 19, 2015 (that we wrote about on August 24) was more than that. We can’t verify with 100 percent certainty that the helicopter in the photo above is Croman’s S-61A, N1043T that crashed that day while working on the Eldorado Fire eight miles southeast of Unity, Oregon. But the person who sent us the photo said it is, and the paint job, the position of the helicopter, and the damage to the tail boom match the NTSB’s description of the crash.
Below is text from the NTSB Preliminary Report, ID# WPR15LA248, that was updated on September 3, 2015:
****
“14 CFR Part 133: Rotorcraft Ext. Load
Accident occurred Wednesday, August 19, 2015 in Ironside, OR
Aircraft: SIKORSKY S 61A, registration: N1043T
Injuries: 1 Minor, 1 Uninjured.
This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain errors. Any errors in this report will be corrected when the final report has been completed. NTSB investigators may not have traveled in support of this investigation and used data provided by various sources to prepare this aircraft accident report.
On August 19, 2015, about 1930 Pacific daylight time, a Sikorsky S-61A, N1043T, landed on a mountainside after experiencing a partial loss of engine power about 7 miles west of Ironside, Oregon. The commercial pilot sustained no injuries and the air transport pilot sustained minor injuries. The helicopter sustained substantial damage to the tailboom. The helicopter was registered to, and operated by, Croman Corp under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 133 as a firefighting flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the flight, which operated under a company flight plan. The flight originated from Baker City Municipal Airport (BKE), Baker City, Oregon at 1715.
The commercial pilot reported that shortly after picking up a bucket of water from a pond he gained airspeed and initiated a climbing left turn back towards the fire. As the helicopter started to climb, he heard a drop in RPM and the helicopter lost power. He attempted to continue the climb; however, the helicopter was too heavy. He released the water and landed the helicopter on a mountain side; subsequently, the helicopter rolled onto its right side.
The helicopter has been recovered to a secure location for further examination.”
****
UPDATE, September 15, 2015:
Earlier this year a Croman S-61A helicopter’s main rotor hit a tree while dipping water on the Cabin Fire on the Sequoia National Forest in California. Below is an excerpt from the Rapid Lesson Sharing report dated August 4, 2015:
****
“…As the pilots descended into the dipsite, the SIC communicated instructions to the PIC to “stay left” of the trees. While in the dip, the PIC heard what he suspected was a blade strike, called out the strike, jettisoned the water and immediately initiated a climb out to get clear of the area.
The pilots assessed the condition of the blades and saw no noticeable damage while in flight. On the climb out, the SIC noticed a smaller diameter tree (estimated to be about 8 ft. in height) that had been located at the helicopter’s 4 o’clock position, and missing its top. The Air Attack was notified about the potential blade strike and the pilots provided their intentions to land at the first opportunity. During the short flight to the first suitable landing site, the pilots noted no vibrations or abnormalities.
The crew performed a precautionary landing in a field located approximately 10 minutes away from the dip site. The Helicopter Manager was notified of the situation via cell phone. After shut down was complete, the pilots inspected the main rotor blade damage. Maintenance inspectors determined the main rotor blades, rotor-head, transmission and high speed shafts required replacement. The NTSB determined the blade strike as an “Incident”, and it was further classified by the Forest Service as an “Incident with Potential”…”
Croman S-61A helicopter experiences hard landing
At approximately 7:15 p.m. PT on August 19, a Croman S-61A helicopter working on the Eldorado Fire eight miles southeast of Unity, Oregon experienced a hard landing. The incident occurred on the west portion of the fire near King Creek in the vicinity of a medical unit serving firefighters on the line.
According to the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF), two persons were on board. When the helicopter came to rest, both exited the helicopter and signaled that they were unhurt by waving to the medical unit. While no significant injuries were apparent, both individuals were transported by ambulance to St. Alphonsus Ontario Medical Center for further evaluation.
Below is an excerpt from an article in the Baker City Herald:
…Gary Wiltrout, 67, of Boise, said he and his co-pilot Scott Talada, 65, of Baker City, had been flying for about six hours on Wednesday dumping water on the Eldorado fire when the engine failure occurred about 7:15 p.m.
They were taking water from a pond known as Murphy’s dip, near Highway 26 leaving Unity. Wiltrout said that up to that point, there was no indication there was anything wrong with the helicopter.“We had just picked up a bucket of water, then the engine rpm changed and we started losing altitude,” Wiltrout said. “I got rid of the water right away.”
Then, they lost an engine.
“I tried to make it out with one engine,” Wiltrout said.
The FAA reports there was “substantial damage” to the aircraft.
The helicopter has a Call When Needed contract with the U.S. Forest Service, but at the time of the accident it was working under the operational control of the ODF on one of their fires.
Photos of aircraft at Aerial Firefighting conference
We took these photos last week, March 20, at the Aerial Firefighting conference in Sacramento. There were about 90 minutes set aside for displays of firefighting aircraft at McClellan Air Force base, as well as live demonstrations of water and water pellet drops from a helicopter, and the use of the AirTEP Airborne Tactical Extraction Platform marketed by Aerial Machine Tool. We have photos of Coulson’s C-130Q in another article.
Fighting fire with bags of liquid
A company in Israel has developed a system for fighting wildfires by dropping small bags of liquid from a helicopter or cargo plane. The idea is that the bags would break upon impact. Elbit Systems demonstrated their “HyDrop” system at the Aerial Firefighting conference in Sacramento, California last week, when small bags of water holding less than one liter were dropped from a Type 1 helicopter operated by Croman. Shlomo Alkaher, Vice President of the company, told Fire Aviation that other liquids could be used in the bags, such as water enhancement products or conventional long term fire retardant.
At their exhibit in the conference center we asked Mr. Alkaher if we could see one of the bags, but were surprised to hear that none were available. Later at the live demonstration at McClellan Air Force Base, we found a person who had somehow acquired a bag and allowed us to photograph it.
In a video of a test drop the company was showing in the exhibit area at the conference, it was clear that some of the bags did not break when hitting the ground, and in fact bounced. Mr. Alkaher said that the fire would eventually burn the plastic and the water would escape.
The advantage of the bags, he explained, is that the water delivery would be less susceptible to being blown off target by winds, which would also allow the helicopter to drop from a greater height if necessary.
We asked if they had conducted any tests where the product would be dropped onto a standard grid of cups, a test that is used to determine the distribution of water and retardant dropped by helicopters and air tankers. He told us no, explaining that the bags would most likely destroy the cups.
Mr. Alkaher said tests on crash test dummies determined that if a bag hit a person it would not cause an injury. The plastic bags will easily biodegrade, he said. The company has developed equipment that fills the bags near the site where they would be loaded onto the helicopter.
The company has also designed a container system that could be used by cargo planes with a rear door, such as a C-130. The containers would have a conveyer belt that would feed the bags out the door.
The video below, which has been converted to slow motion, shows the March 20 demonstration at McClellan. The camera was pretty far away so you can’t see a great deal (it helps to put it on “full screen”), but the spectators could tell that some of the bags bounced. We were not allowed to walk over and get a closer look at the drop site to see what the effects were or how many bags broke.
Helicopter crash in northern California
Siskorsky S-61, photo: Croman CorporationA Sikorsky S-61 Type 1 helicopter crashed on the Backbone fire on the Klamath National Forest on Friday July 17. Thankfully there were no serious injuries to the only people on board, the two pilots.
From the Mail Tribune:
A pilot was injured when a helicopter owned by Croman Corporation, of White City, crashed Friday afternoon while fighting the Backbone Fire on the Klamath National Forest in Northern California. A U.S. Forest Service spokesman said both the pilots on the aircraft walked away from the crash, and one was flown to Mercy Hospital in Redding, Calif., where he was treated and released. The pilots’ names were not available.
The aircraft was an S-61 military-style helicopter, the same kind that went down Aug. 5, 2008, near Junction City in California’s Trinity County, killing nine firefighters, six of whom were from Jackson and Josephine counties, from Merlin-based Grayback Forestry.
“They’re calling it a hard landing,” Forest Service spokesman Jim Mackensen said. “I’m calling it a crash.”
Mackensen said the aircraft came down hard and flipped on its side at 3:16 p.m. Friday while working at a heliwell, a plastic container that holds thousands of gallons of water for use in fighting forest fires far from good dipping sites in streams or lakes. Water had been hauled to the heliwell by trucks for the aircraft to pick up to attack the fire.
“He had just finished loading up,” Mackensen said. “It did roll over and beat itself up pretty bad. It’s not going to fly off the mountain.”
The site of the crash was a wooded part of Siskiyou County about six miles north of the community of Forks of the Salmon and about 12 miles northeast of Willow Creek. The fire had spread over about 6,300 acres as of Saturday morning. Mackensen it was 50 percent controlled.
Mackensen said an investigation team was on its way to the accident and would begin at once trying to determine what went wrong. He said he believed the pilots were Croman employees. Phone calls to Croman’s White City headquarters Saturday were not answered.
The Sikorsky helicopter in last year’s tragedy was owned by Carson Helicopters of Grants Pass. That 30-year-old aircraft was made in Connecticut and upgraded in 2003 and had been used in firefighting for 10 years. A Carson spokesman said it was the first fatal crash for his company in 50 years.