Idaho K-MAX long line accident preliminary investigation
http://ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20100617X13529&key=1
NTSB Identification: WPR10LA295
14 CFR Part 133: Rotorcraft Ext. Load
Accident occurred Wednesday, June 16, 2010 in Donnelly, ID
Aircraft: KAMAN AEROSPACE CORP K-1200, registration: N134WC
Injuries: 1 Fatal.
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.
On June 16, 2010, about 1340 mountain daylight time, a Kaman K-1200 helicopter, N134WC, impacted the terrain about five miles west of Donnelly, Idaho. The commercial pilot, who was the sole occupant of the helicopter, was killed in the accident sequence, and the helicopter, which was owned and operated by Woody Contracting Inc., sustained substantial damage. The 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 133 long-line logging flight had been airborne for an as of yet undetermined period of time. The flight was taking place in visual meteorological conditions. No flight plan had been filed.
According to witnesses, the helicopter, which was using a 200 foot long-line, had just lifted a load of logs clear of the ground, when a loud noise was heard emanating from the helicopter. Immediately thereafter, witnesses saw portions of the helicopter's counter-rotating rotor system separating from the helicopter. The helicopter then immediately fell to the rough terrain below. There was no fire.
Erickson lost a Skycrane on Friday in Borneo during logging ops as well. Pilot killed and co-pilot seriously injured.
US pilot killed as helicopter crashes in Malaysian jungle on Borneo island
By: The Associated Press
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - A helicopter used to transport timber crashed in a remote Malaysian rain forest on Borneo island, killing the American pilot and injuring the co-pilot, officials said Sunday.
The helicopter went down Friday in a logging zone in Malaysia's eastern Sarawak state, a district police official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to make public statements.
The American pilot was killed and his co-pilot was hospitalized, the official said Saturday. Authorities have not determined the cause of the accident.
Malaysia's New Straits Times newspaper and national news agency, Bernama, identified the pilot who was killed as William Charles Scott, 51, from Meridian, Mississippi, and the other man as David William Bergin, 49, from Bend, Oregon.
Bergin, who had a fractured hand, spinal injury and other bruises, told the New Straits Times at a Sarawak hospital that the helicopter went into an uncontrollable spin before it crashed.
"That's all I could recall. It happened in a flash," the Times on Sunday quoted him as saying.
A nurse at Sarawak's Columbia Asia Medical Center confirmed that Bergin was a patient, but said he was not able to come to the phone. She could not give information about when he might be released from the hospital.
A U.S. Embassy representative in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's main city, said she was aware of the accident but could not release the pilots' identities because of the embassy's privacy policy.
The helicopter was operated by the Malaysian subsidiary of Portland, Oregon-based Erickson Air-Crane Inc., which harvests timber for Malaysian loggers in Borneo. A company employee based in Sarawak also confirmed the crash and the pilot's death, but she could not give details and declined to be identified.
