NTSB Says Skid Caught Fence And Rolled
The National Transportation Safety
Board said a helicopter that went down while herding wild horses in
Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota snagged a fence,
in its initial report on the incident, said the Associated
Press.
"The pilot reported trying to counteract the roll... but was
unsuccessful," according to the report. The Bell 206 (file photo,
below) helicopter was herding horses when its left landing skid
caught the top of a 10-foot-high wire fence.
The pilot, Ted McBride, of El Aero Services of Elko, Nev., and
park wildlife biologist Mike Oehler were treated for minor injuries
at a Dickinson hospital and released. The horse roundup was called
off.
McBride--certified through the Interior Department to do
contract work for the National Park Service--said he had been
flying for the company for 35 years and before last month had never
crashed.
Witnesses to the helicopter incident matched details in the NTSB
report. People at the scene of the October 18 roundup said the
helicopter was hovering a few feet off the ground between two
fences, trying to herd a group of horses into an inner corral, when
a landing skid hit something, the helicopter pitched and rolled
into the ground.
The 206 came to rest on its left side outside the corral fence.
Parts of its rotor broke off and flew into the corral, but no one
there--horse or human--was hurt. The report says the chopper's main
rotor blades were destroyed, and that both the main transmission
deck and tailboom separated from the fuselage.
Interior Department investigators also examined what happened
and sent their report to the NTSB, who said they are leaving the
probable cause determination of the helicopter issue up to them--
they were only focusing on National Park Service issues.
"Are we doing things the right way, at the right time, with the
right equipment?" said Stephen Rauch, an air safety investigator
with the Aviation Management Directorate.
Valerie Naylor Park Superintendent has said the park likely will
continue using helicopters for horse round ups because they are the
most efficient and safest way to collect wildlife. Helicopters have
been used in park roundups for about 20 years, she said.
An NTSB spokeswoman said that the probably cause will come
later, in the agency's final report.