NTSB releases causes of New Mexico police helicopter crash, and makes recommendations

New Mexico helicopter crash
The crash site of the Agusta S.p.A. A-109E helicopter. NTSB photo.

Today the National Transportation Safety Board released a report on the crash of a police helicopter in New Mexico in 2009 that killed two people (map). There may be some factors about the crash that are familiar to wildland firefighters and fire aviation crews.

Here is a brief summary of two of the causes of the crash, as determined by the NTSB:

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) today determined that a New Mexico State Police (NMSP) helicopter pilot’s decision to take off from a remote landing site, without conducting a thorough assessment of the weather and night time conditions, was the primary cause of the 2009 fatal crash. Contributing to the accident was an organizational culture within the New Mexico State Police that emphasized mission completion over safety, as well pilot fatigue, stress, and the pilot’s self-induced pressure to complete the rescue mission.

Another aspect of the crash, not covered in detail by the NTSB report, is the lost hiker who had just been found and picked up by the helicopter. There were many technological glitches related to the 911 call the hiker, Megumi Yamamoto, made that hampered her timely rescue. Unfortunately she was killed in the crash, along with the pilot, Andy Tingwall. The spotter, although injured, walked until he found rescuers and was then hoisted in a basket below a helicopter before being flown to a hospital.

Here are some excerpts from the NTSB report. Their site has more details, including conclusions and recommendations.

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

On June 9, 2009, about 2135 mountain daylight time, an Agusta S.p.A. A-109E helicopter, N606SP, impacted terrain following visual flight rules flight into instrument meteorological conditions near Santa Fe, New Mexico. The commercial pilot and one passenger were fatally injured; a highway patrol officer who was acting as a spotter during the accident flight was seriously injured. The entire aircraft was substantially damaged. The helicopter was registered to the New Mexico Department of Public Safety and operated by the New Mexico State Police (NMSP) on a public search and rescue mission under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 without a flight plan. The helicopter departed its home base at Santa Fe Municipal Airport, Santa Fe, New Mexico, about 1850 in visual meteorological conditions; instrument meteorological conditions prevailed when the helicopter departed the remote landing site about 2132.

PROBABLE CAUSE

The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the pilot’s decision to take off from a remote, mountainous landing site in dark (moonless) night, windy, instrument meteorological conditions. Contributing to the accident were an organizational culture that prioritized mission execution over aviation safety and the pilot’s fatigue, self-imposed pressure to conduct the flight, and situational stress. Also contributing to the accident were deficiencies in the NMSP aviation section’s safety-related policies, including lack of a requirement for a risk assessment at any point during the mission; inadequate pilot staffing; lack of an effective fatigue management program for pilots; and inadequate procedures and equipment to ensure effective communication between airborne and ground personnel during search and rescue missions.

North Carolina: Pains Bay fire update, May 19

Pains Bay fire helicopter

L. Freeman was asking for an update on the Pains Bay Fire, and it has been a while since I updated our Wildfire Today readers on the status of this fire that has been burning since May 5 in a swamp on the North Carolina coast, mostly in the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge. As far as I know, the fire has not made any spectacular runs in the last week or so. It can take weeks or months to put out a fire in a drought-affected swamp, so firefighters could be in for a long haul.

But I received these recent photos, and could not resist posting them here. They are the first photos I’ve seen of a Type 1 helicopter dipping out of a canal adjacent to a road.

Pains Bay fire helicopter
Pains Bay Fire; helicopter dipping near Highway 264; Photo: Chris Carlson, NCDFR
Pains Bay fire helicopter dipping
Pains Bay fire; helicopter dipping near Highway 264, Photo: Chris Carlson, NCDFR

Helicopters with external loads are not supposed to overfly people, so that is one reason the road is closed to the public. That and the firefighters and equipment that are working along the road.

The following information came from Bonnie W. Strawser, Visitor Services Manager, Alligator River/Pea Island National Wildlife Refuges:

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Current Status:

  • The acreage of the fire is 25,678 acres and has not increased. This includes an estimated 3711 acres of smoldering peat ground fire.
  • Location – Approximately 19 miles south of Manns Harbor, NC
  • Warmer, dryer weather continues to hamper control efforts.
  • Water is being pumped from canals onto the edges of the burned area, utilizing various types of pumps and sprinklers.
  • Containment held steady at 80 percent today. Crews and tractor plow units continue to strengthen existing containment lines.
  • Road Closure – US 264 remains closed between Stumpy Point and Engelhard. A large number of engines are working on the roadway to extinguish ground fire. Specialized irrigation equipment and helicopters are operating in close proximity to the roadway. Fire officials determined that these operations created a safety hazard to both firefighters and the public requiring closure of the road. Completing this work along US 264 remains a high priority so that the road can be opened as soon as possible. Attached photos show current operations along US 264 as of 4:00 PM, May 19.
  • Flight Restrictions – A Temporary Flight Restriction (#2182) remains in effect
  • Date fire started – May 5, 2011 at 3:00 PM
  • All fire is located on Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge (Department of Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service) and the Dare County Range (Department of Defense, US Air Force).

Resources on the Fire:

  • 188 personnel
  • 11 tractor/plow units and flex-tracks
  • 13 type 6 engines.
  • Aircraft – 3 helicopters – One Type 1 Sikorsky and 2 Type 3 Bell 206 helicopters

California congressman to host public meeting about wildfire management

On October 13, 2010, Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA) convened a panel to interrogate gather information from employees of the U. S. Forest Service and other organizations about the management of the Station fire that burned 160,000 acres near Los Angeles in 2009. On Thursday the Congressman will host another meeting with representatives of the Forest Service and the Government Accountability Office to inform residents about his efforts “to learn from what went wrong in the effort to extinguish the fire and implement changes to make sure those mistakes are not repeated”.

During the October meeting there were many questions about the use of air tankers and helicopters on the Station fire, with the implication that heavier use of aircraft during the first 36 hours would have made a significant difference in the suppression efforts. One can assume that this topic will be raised again. There were also questions during the meeting about penny-pinching by the USFS and how that may have affected the management of the fire.

There are rumors floating around that the U.S. Forest Service is leaning toward establishing two night-flying water-dropping helicopters in southern California. Tom Harbour, the Director of Fire and Aviation Management for the USFS, will be at Thursday’s meeting. It will be interesting to hear what he has to say on the subject.

The public meeting will be Thursday, April 28, from 10:30 a.m. until 12:00 p.m., at the Altadena Library, 600 East Mariposa St., Altadena, CA.

Here are some screen grabs from videos of the October meeting:

Station fire hearing October 13 2010
Tom Harbour

Station fire hearing October 13 2010

Station fire hearing October 13 2010

My new favorite commercial

This is my new favorite commercial. You’ll see why at the end. Watch it. You will be glad you did.

Here is a screen grab, that might give you a hint:

Sky Crane commercial

 

And here’s the video:

This is going to launch on TV in the near future.

 

Thanks Kelly

Martin Mars air tanker joins the fire fight in Mexico

Martin Mars
Martin Mars. Photo: Coulson Flying Tankers

The Martin Mars air tanker will be joining the 747 air tanker in Mexico to help suppress the wildfires that are burning 30 to 40 miles south of the Texas border. According to an article in the Vancouver Sun, the government of Mexico has signed a 20-day contract with Coulson Flying Tankers. The aircraft was scheduled to depart from their Port Alberni, Canada base on Friday to begin the contract on Sunday, April 24.

The huge air tanker will be based at Lake Amistad reservoir near Del Rio, Texas. The lake straddles the U.S./Mexico border, and the aircraft will be moored on the U.S. side. It will scoop up to 7,200 gallons of water from the lake and then fly across the border 30 to 40 miles to the fires, returning to the lake each time it needs to refill. A conventional large air tanker can hold 2,000 to 3,000 gallons, while the DC-10 can carry 11,600 and the 747 has a 20,000-gallon tank.

There were only seven of these  “flying boats” built, between 1945 and 1948. The U.S. Navy retired them in 1956 and then sold them to private companies. Four of them were converted to air tankers, or “water bombers” as they are called in Canada. One crashed on a fire in British Columbia 1961, killing the the four crewmembers, and another was destroyed by Typhoon Freda while the aircraft was parked onshore in 1962.  The other two, the Hawaii Mars and Philippine Mars, entered the firefighting service in 1963 and are still flying today for Coulson Flying Tankers.

The Martin Mars has a modern firefighting system. In addition to the 7,200-gallon water capacity, it also carries 600 US gallons of foam concentrate which can be mixed with the water to enhance the fire suppression properties of the water. This is enough for 21 drops of a 0.4% solution. It also carries Thermo-Gel which can be mixed into the water, creating a gel which coats vegetation and structures providing more cooling and protection than plain water.

The U.S. Forest Service contracted with the Martin Mars for two to three months in 2009, basing it at Lake Elsinore in southern California. It worked on the Station fire and many others that year, but was not under contract in the U.S. in 2010.

 

Martin Mars air tanker
Martin Mars. Photo: Coulson Flying Tankers

The operation of the Martin Mars is somewhat unusual for air tankers, in that the ship comes with a helicopter, a Sikorsky S-76B. The helicopter has several roles, primarily serving as a lead plane and checking to make sure the water-scooping locations are free of boaters and other obstacles.  Called Firewatch 76, it has infrared imaging capabilities and can also stream live video to the internet using 3G cell phone networks.

 

Firewatch 76
Firewatch 76 leading the Martin Mars. Photo: Coulson Flying Tankers

Below is a map of the fires in Texas. It also shows the fires across the border in Mexico that the Martin Mars and the 747 supertanker are or will be working on.

Continue reading

U. S. military sends two air tankers to fight fires in Mexico

Saturday morning two C-130 aircraft with Modular Airborne Fire Fighting Systems (MAFFS) left Peterson Air Force base in Colorado Springs, Colorado for Mexico to assist with two large fires that are burning about 60 miles south of the Texas border. They arrived later in the day at Laughlin Air Force Base, which they will use as a reload base, and are already dropping water mixed with foam concentrate on the fires. That’s right, not long-term fire retardant, but foam.

The MAFFS units, which hold about 3,000 gallons, are owned by the U.S. Forest Service and slip into the C-130’s cargo bay fairly quickly to convert the transport planes into air tankers. Normally they drop retardant but apparently they were not able to work out the logistics of acquiring it for this mission.

The MAFFS aircraft have been authorized to drop four loads per day per aircraft, for up to seven days.

Evergreen’s 747 Supertanker has been working on the fires in Mexico since April 12. Steven Daniels, of Evergreen Aviation, told Wildfire Today that the massive air tanker has dropped 12 loads of retardant, 20,000 gallons each, for a total of 240,000 gallons.

Supertanker1 - 30 June 2010
File photo of the 747 Supertanker dropping on June 30, 2010

The Bomberos, or Mexican firefighters, are not totally familiar with the use of retardant and wonder why the 747 is not dropping directly on the fire or flames, but instead is dropping just ahead of the fire. They are learning that dropping ahead of the fire is the best way to slow it down, and that an air tanker can’t put out a fire completely, it takes support from ground personnel to follow-up after the drop.

Two Air-Cranes operated by Helicopter Transport Services have also been working on the fires in Mexico.

In Canada, competition for helicopter contracts is tough

Canada helicopters wildfire
Vertical/Shawn Evan photo

An article at VerticalMag.com laments the state of the charter helicopter industry in Canada. The slowdown in the economy has made competition for helicopter contracts fierce in the fields of wildland firefighting, mineral exploration, oil and gas exploration, and heli-tourism. Here is an excerpt from the article.

…With some 220 companies operating 1,752 commercial helicopters (a 34 percent increase since 2001), observers say there are now too many aircraft chasing too little work.

[…]

Wildland Firefighting

When it comes to wildland firefighting, contracts rates have been dropping as a result of the abundant supply of intermediate and medium helicopters idled by the decline in mining, oil and gas, and forestry work. For example, AS 350B2s were recently contracted by the Alberta government for $1,090 an hour and AS 350B3s for $1,290 an hour — when the normal casual-hire rates for these helicopters in the oil patch have been running in the $1,800- to $2,495-an-hour range.

When it comes to new innovations, a potential game changer is VIH’s Sikorsky S-61 helitanker concept: two were introduced to the B.C. Ministry of Forests last summer, before they were shipped to Australia for that country’s fire season. The S-61 helitanker concept features an Isolair 3,800-liter (1,000 US gallon) belly tank, which can be refilled in 40 seconds. B.C. has historically used fixed-wing retardant bombers and bucket-equipped helicopters, but the province is evaluating other options after incurring some extreme fire seasons in recent years.

“The S-61 has the ability to put more water on a fire per hour that other methods, said VIH’s Woytkiw. Another recent firefighting development is VIH’s selection of a Simplex water bucket for the heavy-lifting Kamov Ka-32, which Woytkiw called “bulletproof and very durable.”

 

Thanks Dick

New requirements could be expensive for operators of firefighting helicopters

Helicopter Dippin
A Type 3 helicopter dipping from a portable tank on the Fossil 2 fire, South Dakota, August 11, 2009. Photo by Bill Gabbert

Some new requirements for Call When Needed (CWN) helicopters that are hired for temporary firefighting duty may be expensive for some contractors. In order to qualify for a U. S. Forest Service CWN contract, the new specifications require each Type 3 CWN helicopter, such as a Bell 206, to have wire-cutting kits (designed to help protect the aircraft if it runs into power lines), strobe lights, a heated defroster unit, and a specific type of cargo hook. The changes are supposed to enhance safety and promote standardization. According to contractors quoted in an article in the Washington Examiner, it could cost from $10,000 to $50,000 for each helicopter.

This could be a tough decision for a CWN operator to make. If they spend the money, they may or may not get called to perform any work for the USFS, since CWN resources are only used if the existing full time exclusive use aircraft are not sufficient to handle the work load.

 

Helicopters drop water on Japan’s nuclear reactors

Some very brave helicopter pilots made some water drops on the melting down nuclear reactors in Japan on Thursday. Two CH-47 helicopters operated by Japan’s Self-Defense Forces made four drops on Reactors three and four at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power facility in an attempt to cool down the out of control reactors.

The audio in this video is distorted, but the images are OK.

According to a report, lead plates were attached to the bottom of the helicopters and the pilots were wearing protective suits in order to minimize their exposure to radiation. They also dropped from a fairly high altitude and at speed, rather than a hover, to reduce their exposure. The pilots are being limited to 40 minutes of flight time each day.

Helicopters dip water to drop on the melting down reactors
Photo: Kenji Shimizu

The pilots may be risking their lives doing this. Of course dropping water on vegetation fires is routine for experienced pilots and may be an adrenalin rush, but flying a few hundred feet over a melting down nuclear reactor is a whole different level of risk.

During the Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986, helicopters were used to drop 5,000 metric tons of bags containing sand, lead, and boric acid onto the burning reactor. One of the helicopters collided with a large construction crane killing the four-person crew.