Sun Staff Reporter
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
*To see this story as it originally appeared in the Daily Sun, click here
Federal investigators arrived in Flagstaff Monday to pore over the McMillan Mesa site where two medical helicopters came to rest after Sunday's deadly midair collision.
The normally busy stretch of Turquoise Drive between Ponderosa Parkway and Forest Avenue sat blocked and silent, but for the hum of cicadas and the voices of National Transportation Safety Board and law enforcement representatives, as investigators walked around the wreckage.
The blue and gold Classic Lifeguard helicopter, no more than 150 feet from the road, was broken but recognizable amid a field of debris and mangled pine trees.
On a clearing about 325 feet uphill sat what was once Angel 1, tail number 10407GA, the Guardian Air craft.
An orange and white blade rested on charred earth. But most of the helicopter was burned beyond recognition, the result of a fiery explosion.
As close to the yellow police tape as civilians could get, a memorial was starting to build.
CHOPPERS COMING FROM WINSLOW, CANYON
NTSB agents hit the ground running Monday, having already secured a video of the collision.
Thirteen investigators, including chairman Mark Rosenker, will work through the week to determine what caused the Bell 407 helicopters to go down during their final approaches into Flagstaff Medical Center. The wreck killed six and severely injured a flight nurse, who remained in critical condition as of Monday evening.
Rosenker gave this basic outline of events leading up to the crash:
The Guardian Air helicopter was northbound, transporting a Winslow man with an undisclosed condition. Before heading to the hospital, the pilot stopped at Pulliam Airport to drop off a nurse because of weight and power concerns.
The Classic Lifeguard flight, southbound, taking a firefighter who was working the Walla Valley fire near Grand Canyon to FMC. He was to be treated for anaphylactic shock that resulted from an insect bite.
When the helicopters collided at about 3:48 p.m., it was a mostly sunny summer day, with calm winds and temperatures in the 80s.
A motion-activated surveillance camera in a hospital parking lot switched on just in time to film the crash. The time/date stamp obscured the frame, but the NTSB will analyze and enhance a copy back at Washington, D.C., headquarters.
"If no one would have been there, we might not have been able to capture the actual collision," Rosenker said.
Today, investigators will actually begin examining wreckage. They will track down training records and employee histories, dispatch communications, maintenance records, and 72-hour flight history of the pilots.
The helicopters narrowly missed homes and businesses when they went down about a quarter-mile from the hospital. The crash touched off a wildfire that grew to 10 to 15 acres before being contained.
In addition to the victims aboard the helicopters, three Guardian ground responders suffered minor injuries following the explosion of the Guardian Air craft, less than 10 minutes after the collision. One was treated at the scene, and two were taken to FMC, with one held for observation.
DOZENS OF LOCAL RESPONDERS
The rare event required dozens of additional first responders.
Sgt. Tom Boughner from the Flagstaff Police Department said about 15 additional officers were called in to help with the crash site.
Police are staffing a command post and enforcing a traffic closure along Turquoise, which will stay in place until the NTSB says it is no longer necessary.
Capt. Mark Johnson from the Flagstaff Fire Department said a second alarm was sounded, which is a full recall of all available personnel. He said about 30 off-duty personnel responded.
Passersby hiked up to the downed Classic Lifeguard helicopter and pulled out one victim. Firefighters extracted the other two, challenged by the jet fuel that had leaked onto the forest floor and the aircraft's material.
"It would be like trying to use plastic materials or break apart steel," Johnson said of the cutting tools, which are most commonly used on automobiles. "It's very lightweight, it continues to push, it's just difficult to get folks out of situations like that."
Johnson said civilians who flocked to the scene distracted police and firefighters by getting too close to the crash site. He said civilians should not attempt to go near crash sites, both for the sake of the victims and their own safety.
"It's always tough at an accident scene or any disaster, because people want to stop, half out of interest and half because they want to help," Boughner said. "Sometimes it's not the best resource to use a volunteer like that -- for instance, if we need crime scene integrity or if we need trained personnel to do something."
EXTENSIVE REVIEW AHEAD
Rosenker said the NTSB team will be at the scene until Thursday or Friday to gather facts and possibly collect pieces of the helicopters for further analysis. The investigation does not end when the team leaves. Months of extensive interviews and reviews must be completed before the agency releases a complete report.
When the helicopters struck each other, they were both coming in a base leg for a final approach to land at FMC.
"They were both, if you will, in a place they should have been in a normal operation," Rosenker said. "The question is, why didn't they see each other. We're going to hopefully learn that, and be able to prevent that type of thing from happening again."
Hillary Davis can be reached at 556-2261 or hdavis@azdailysun.com.
