Helicopter mechanic on top of Chinook struck by rotor

Chinook at RDD
File photo of a California National Guard Chinook at RDD in 2014.

The Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center has published a report written by individuals in the Rocky Mountain Geographic Area about an incident that happened July 8, 2018 after a Chinook helicopter that had been dropping water on a fire landed to refuel. As the pilot was shutting down the engines an error code for engine #2 indicated a failure. This code pointed to a cannon plug issue, which was pulled, inspected, reinserted, and the error code cleared.

Here is an excerpt of what happened after the Pilot in Command shut down the engines:

…Two of the crew’s mechanics climbed on top of the aircraft to complete their tasks. These tasks include, but are not limited to, visually checking certain fluid levels within a five minute window for the most accurate readings. As the crew members were busy at work and focused on their assigned tasks, the PIC began going through the engine start-up process to see if the error code issue was completely resolved.

Upon hearing the engine spool up, the crew chief immediately wanted eyes on top of the aircraft, knowing that there might be crew personnel engaged on top. Two crew mechanics were indeed on top of the aircraft, aft of the front rotor. Hearing the engines spool up, several support personnel noticed these two mechanics and began yelling: “Get down! Get down!” As the engine was spooling up and the rotors began to turn, one of the mechanic crew members was struck in the head, impacting the side of this individual’s face/head and their safety helmet. The crewmember immediately went limp and slumped down.

The second crewmember was able to grab the struck mechanic in a bear hug to prevent them both from falling off the aircraft. Crewmember 2 stated that he “fundamentally supported and slid partway down the aircraft and then pushed off the fuel tank near the bottom.” He explained that this response was based on his military training. Crewmember 2, still supporting the injured mechanic, fell onto the pavement—both landing safely. At this point, the injured mechanic sat up, stunned. Simultaneously, the PIC heard the noise outside the aircraft and immediately initiated complete engine shut-down…

After being checked by a paramedic at the helibase, the injured crewmember was driven to a hospital by a company driver to be examined. The individual was treated and released from the hospital the same afternoon.

Following the accident and before any other flight operations continued, the crew had a “safety stand-down”. This provided the crew with an opportunity to establish a clear understanding of what happened, how operations will continue moving forward, and closure for anyone who may have been traumatically affected by the incident.

Discussions within the company after the incident centered on safety meetings, communications, and continuing the use of helmets.

Report released for entrapments on Horse Park Fire

Horse Park Fire

Above: photo from the report.

Additional information has been released about the entrapments that occurred on the Horse Park Fire May 27 in a remote area of Southwest Colorado. Earlier we posted two videos that were shot when firefighters hurriedly retreated as the fire advanced, plus information from a “72-hour report”.

Now a 56-page Facilitated Learning Analysis and a 12-minute video are available that break down the incident in even more detail.

To very briefly summarize what happened, while scouting a road for a potential burnout operation, a hotshot crew superintendent and foreman encounter a wall of flames and attempt to retreat. Their truck becomes stuck, forcing them to flee on foot, narrowly escaping the rapidly advancing fire front. Just as they reach safety, they learn that their crew lookout is missing. After nearly 40 agonizing minutes, the lead plane pilot locates her after she ignited an escape fire. It is a compelling story, which is pretty well summed up in this video.

The 56-page report only has one recommendation:Recommendation horse park fire

More information released about near miss on Horse Park Fire

Horse Park Fire burned truck

Above: The truck that became stuck as the driver attempted to turn it around. The report describes it as “fire damaged”. Photo from the report.

The U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management have released more details about the near miss that occurred on the Horse Park Fire May 27 in a remote area of Southwest Colorado. The report disclosed that in addition to the two firefighters that had to flee from a stuck truck, a lookout in another location also fled on foot and ignited an escape fire at a potential fire shelter deployment site as the fire approached. According to the information released there were no injuries.

Below is the narrative from the “72 Hour Preliminary Report”:

“Two crew members were scouting a road for a potential burnout operation when their truck became stuck. They were unable to free the truck before the fire began to overtake them. The crewmembers made the decision to abandon the truck and take their gear with them. They fled back down the road and away from the fire. One crew member ran ahead and made it safely back to the other vehicles. The other crew member dropped his pack, keeping his fire shelter and radio with him. An additional crew member came up the road on a UTV to help him escape. The pair drove to the parking area where the other crew members were waiting in the vehicles.

“Meanwhile, the crew lookout was forced to flee from the lookout position by the same advance of the fire. Given the fire behavior, the lookout did not feel it was possible to outpace the fire and make it back to the vehicles, so instead moved down and away from the fire. The lookout dropped their pack, but kept the fire shelter, a tool, and radio. At some point during the escape, the lookout realized that the antennae was no longer attached to the radio and there was no way to communicate with the crew or other resources. After moving a considerable distance down a drainage, the lookout found a grassy spot that appeared suitable to deploy a shelter, and began lighting the fuels in the area. Before deployment was necessary, aerial resources located the lookout, who was picked up and flown back to the parking area to rejoin the crew.

“There were no injuries as a result of this incident. An Interagency FLA team, is in place and reviewing the incident.”

firefighter's burned pack Horse Park Fire
A firefighter’s burned pack. Photo from the report.

Videos recorded during the incident show firefighters hurriedly moving to safety while a radio conversation can be heard referring to the firefighters who escaped and the vehicle that was damaged.

All articles on Wildfire Today about the Horse Park Fire.

Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Tom.
Typos or errors, report them HERE.

Two air tankers avoid mid-air collision by 400 feet

As two air tankers were descending before landing at the uncontrolled Porterville Airport on July 12 in California, they narrowly avoided a mid-air collision by 400 feet. The aircraft were close to occupying the same space in the sky when the Traffic Collision Alert Device (TCAD) notified the lower tanker crew about the near collision threat from another tanker above. They took evasive action and lived to tell the story. The upper aircraft was a next-generation air tanker that could have been moving at almost twice the speed of the lower legacy aircraft; 330 to 340 knots versus 165 to 200 knots for legacy air tankers.

Next-gen air tankers would include the BAe-146, Avero RJ 85, C-130Q, MD-87, and DC-10. The legacy category has the P2v, S-2T, and Single Engine Air Tankers.

The entire Lesson Learned can be read here. Below is an excerpt:

As the two aircraft were returning to the AAB at the Porterville Airport (an uncontrolled airport) both flight crews made their calls over the CTAF to announce their positions. When the pilots of the Legacy AT heard the NextGen AT announce their position of “15 miles out” at that moment the Legacy AT crew knew they also just announced their position “15 miles out”. The TCAD (Traffic Collision Alert Device) simultaneously reported traffic on the display and over the intercom. The NextGen AT then descended directly over the top of the Legacy AT. The Legacy AT flight crew reported that the TCAD displayed 400 feet vertical separation and confirmed it visually. The Legacy AT Pilot-in-Command took action to obtain separation from the NextGen AT avoiding the possibility of encountering wake turbulence. The NextGen AT crew did not receive a resolution advisory (RA) on their TCAS (Traffic Collision Avoidance System) and proceeded to the airport, unaware that an incident had occurred. Both aircraft landed without further incident.