Iron 44: Congress questioning the NTSB investigation

Photo of the Carson helicopter that was carrying 13 people away from the Buckhorn site in Trinity County when it crashed and burst into flames August 5, 2008.
Photo credit: Harry Spurling

WASHINGTON - Members of Congress are questioning the thoroughness of the National Transportation Safety Board's investigation into the Iron 44 helicopter crash in Northern California.

The NTSB briefed Congressional members on the investigation Wednesday.

In the NTSB's preliminary report, released in September, a footnote revealed that there was missing federal evidence from that firefighting helicopter crash that killed nine men in August of 2008.

Four members of Congress, including Oregon Representative Greg Walden (R), sent a letter to top NTSB officials two weeks ago questioning the investigation. The letter stated that the NTSB's preliminary report downplayed the significance of several pieces of a Fuel Control Unit which disappeared after the crash.

The FCU is part of the fuel delivery system which manages how much fuel the engine is asking for.

After Wednesday's meeting Walden said, "It is essential that this ongoing investigation be conducted thoroughly and professionally so that the families and public know what went wrong and what must be done to make sure it never happens again.

According to the NTSB, six days after the crash, both engines, including their FCUs, were removed from the crash site and transported to Columbia Helicopters, the company that conducted maintenance on the aircraft. There, the NTSB and a team from the Federal Aviation Administration watched Columbia tear down both engines.

The NTSB later asked for the FCUs to be shipped to their offices in Washington D.C. When the NTSB opened the shipment, they say some parts were missing.

A footnote in the NTSB's preliminary report says "upon opening the shipping containers, an inventory of the hardware revealed that the following components from the FCU Number 1 were not present: Metal position adjusting cover, snap retainer ring, spring retainer cap, spring and bellows."

The report also states that a video recording taken by Columbia Helicopters revealed that the missing parts were not there at the time of packaging and therefore not sent to the NTSB.

The FCUs are part of the fuel delivery system, which manages the amount of fuel required by the engine.

The over 500-page long report includes interview transcripts, witness accounts, photographs and diagrams. The documents do not contain the NTSB's final factual report, analysis or all of its findings regarding the crash. That report will come at a later date.

On the evening of August 5, 2008 seven Southern Oregon contract firefighters with Merlin-based Grayback Forestry, an Oregon pilot, and a U.S. Forest Service check pilot were killed when their helicopter crashed in the Siskiyou-Trinity National Forest east of Redding. Four people survived. The helicopter was ferrying firefighters away from a remote site on the front lines of the Iron Complex of wildfires when it crashed.

The Sikorsky S61N helicopter, operated by Carson Helicopters in Grants Pass, crashed during liftoff. According to the documents, witnesses told investigators the aircraft seemed to hover just above the tree line, then came crashing down about 150 feet away, landing on its side, and then burst into flames. They noted the helicopter appeared to be having a very difficult time getting off the ground into a high enough position to travel and didn't appear to be full powered. One witness said he heard an unusual sound during takeoff, which he described as a snapping or grinding sound.