June 20, 2013
A helicopter in Tinglayan Kalinga crashed, injuring three policemen: Sr. Supt. Oliver Enmodias, chief of regional operations and plans of the Cordillera police; Chief Inspector Dexter Vitug; and Police Officer 3 Jude Edwin Duque. There is no indication that the Pilot Vitug sustained any injury.
The helicopter suffered engine trouble during strong winds, and crashed at Mt. Bitulayunga at 11:00 a.m.
The DBS Helicopters Bell 206L-3 LongRanger III helicopter in Silt, Colorado, that got tangled in power cables doing Holy Cross Energy powerline inspections crashed, killing the pilot and crew.
The accident occurred at 11:20 a.m. where the shared Holy Cross and Xcel Energy power lines cross Dry Hollow Road about 1.6 miles south of Silt. There were witnesses who saw the accident and attempted to help.
The poles that were being inspected were fifty feet high, and the helicopter was supposed to be flying thirty feet over that.
The small fifty-foot debris field is on rough hilly terrain.
Owner and chief pilot for DBS Helicopters, Doug Sheffer died in the accident. He had 22 years and 8,000 hours of flight time. Larry Shaffer who worked for Holy Cross Energy and Christopher Gaskill who worked for HotShot Infrared Inspections were also fatalities. They were filming the trouble spots along the route, and recording the locations on GPS.
I do not want to diminish the tragedy of this accident by saying that helicopter accidents such as this are common, but I will say they happen too frequently, even when the pilot has significant experience flying in mountain terrain, and rescue.
What: Bolivian Air Force (FAB) LAMA FAB-746
Where: Molle Molle at 1520 on Thursday
When: Thursday Oct 1
Who: Four officers killed; one wounded
Why: The helicopter crashed into a wall in the village of Molle Molle. The survivor Yanarico Sergeant Johnson (24) is in critical condition at Viedma Hospital.
Victims: Lt. Col. Wilson Arnez Gonzales (46), the Edgar Antezana Victor Paz (38), officer Javier Rodriguez (48), Sergeant Juan Carlos Iza Arnostegui Colonel Lopez (34) (Venezuelan driver)
FAA air traffic controllers provided the pilot outdated flight visibility information that made navigation difficult for Steven Bunker. Bunker had requested an “airport surveillance radar approach”, a ground-based radar approach. After the FAA air traffic controller told him she could not provide “airport surveillance radar approach” service, the four people in Bunker’s helicopter died.
On Sept. 27, 2008, the medevac helicopter that crashed in a wooded area of Walker Mill Regional Park: Kenneth Mallard, State police pilot Stephen J. Bunker, Trooper 1st Class Mickey C. Lippy and Ashley J. Younger.
Jordan Wells who was also aboard, survived.
Kenneth Mallard was an EMT for the Waldorf Volunteer Rescue Squad. Michael Loyola Rowan, his wife Tanya Mallard’s lawyer, is filing a $7 million federal lawsuit against the FAA for ” not doing everything necessary to ensure a safe landing for the Maryland State Police Trooper 2 helicopter.” Christina P. Lippy has sued for $15 million.
What: Aviation Technology Innovators Beechcraft 65-80 Queen Air en route from Manila to McGuire Field, San Jose, Mindoro.
Where: Parañaque City, Philippines
When: Dec 10, 2011 2 p.m.
Who: 3 aboard, 11 on the ground
Why: The first steps after a crash are those of the investigators whose job it is to examine the wreckage and determine the facts. This information will eventually be turned into an interim and a final report, which will stand as a record. Simultaneously, the records will be examined. Not only will the pilots’ recorded histories be searched and the level of their skill examined, but also the maintenance and ownership of Beechcraft 65-80 Queen Air RP-C824
Captains Timoteo Aldo and Jessie Kim Lustica died in the crash three minutes after takeoff.
Here is a big question: Where is Captain Fidel Hembrador who leased ATI for the repair, maintenance and hangar parking services for the plane?
My first thought takes me to wondering about the condition of the plane. (Maintenance! Maintenance! Maintenance!) My second is to wonder about the pilots’ experience. My third is a strong suggestion that people refrain from rebuilding so close to the airport. However, such an edict would mean it is the government’s responsibility to see that 600 displaced people get generous government assistance in the form of grants or compensation, providing the means for displaced families to establish domiciles elsewhere.
Below is the DEC 12 release from the Department of Transportation and Communications of the Philippines:
Secretary of Transportation and Communications Mar Roxas met with CAAP [Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines] officials today, and ordered a thorough investigation of the light aircraft incident that left 14 people dead on Saturday in Barangay Don Bosco, Paranaque City.
The officials discussed the liability of the owner of the light plane and take into effect a speedy, seven-day timeline for the submission of the investigation report.
CAAP director general Ramon Gutierrez reported that he constituted the Aircraft Accident Investigation Inquiry Board (AAIIB) headed by Captain Amado Soliven, Jr. to lead the panel. The panel will investigate why and how the Beechcraft Queen Air (RPC-834) eight-seater light plane plunged into the shanty town in Paranaque City, exploding on impact, and causing a fire that gutted a 2,000-square-meter section of the slum area.
Gutierrez also told the DOTC secretary the ill-fated aircraft submitted an official flight plan to the CAAP hours before the flight under the registry of Aviation Technologies Innovators, Inc. [ATI], a repair station/maintenance and hangar provider.
But CAAP investigators revealed that the plane had a certificate of registration under one Captain Fidel Hembrador, a private operator, who reportedly leased ATI for the repair, maintenance and hangar parking services for the said plane.
Hembrador has yet to surface following the incident last Saturday.
The CAAP reported that it had retrieved and secured the engines of the plane. CAAP investigators, with the assistance of the authorized repair station of the engine manufacturer (LYCOMING), are currently breaking down the engines to determine if a mechanical malfunction had occurred.
The CAAP had commandeered the aircraft record and logbooks, as well as summary records of the training experience of the crew.
“I have tasked the fact-finding panel to come up with a report and recommendations within the week,” said Secretary Roxas. “We will make sure that all facts of this unfortunate accident are investigated, the victims are duly compensated, and make sure that similar accidents do not happen in the future.”
Roxas added that the general aviation services is one sector that the DOTC intends to relocate to another site. “The objective is to decongest NAIA from small aircraft operations, so as not to comingle with commercial airline operations.”
The CAAP had recommended two potential transfer sites, Fernando Air Base in Lipa City, Batangas and Sangley Point in Cavite.
Both military facilities are military-owned. Roxas said the DOTC and the Department of National Defense will come up with a MOA that will govern the transfer, as well as the relocation of residents who will be displaced by the move.
A small helicopter crashed into a vacant industrial building north of Salt Lake City, Utah, at around 2 p.m. on December 2.
The helicopter struck the roof of a two-story building and bursted into flames, with 2 occupants trapped inside.
Police Chief Craig Black confirmed that both people aboard the helicopter were pronounced dead at the spot. No one on the ground was injured.
The FAA is looking into the cause of crash.
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Andrei Bezmylov
What: GT Gyroplanes Kruza
Where: off Willis Road, near Mangalore Airport
When: Jan 14, 2012, 12:30
Who: pilot and student aboard, 2 fatalities
Why: A local pilot reported that the ultralight crashed, looking as if it came straight down and smashed up. The wreckage was found in a paddock in a field. No one witnessed the crash, but at 10:00 someone witnessed the chopper being buffeted by “gale force” winds.
The flight was discovered after it failed to return to the airport to pick up the next student.
The wreckage is in several pieces. The gyrocopter broke up on impact. It had normally been used for training exercises. The Mangalore airport is in Australia.
