"Iron 44" Aircraft Parts Not Shipped To NTSB

The NTSB says possibly crucial engine parts were not included in a shipment of evidence from Columbia Helicopters, the company which maintained the Sikorsky S61N helicopter transporting firefighters in California involved in an accident in which 9 people were killed.

The wreckage from the aircraft involved in the so-called "Iron 44" incident had been sent to Columbia Helicopters, where NTSB and FAA officials observed while technicians tore down the aircraft's engines. The NTSB subsequently asked that the engines be shipped to Washington, DC, but a footnote in the 500 page preliminary report indicates  "upon opening the shipping containers, an inventory of the hardware revealed that the following components from the FCU (Fuel Control Unit) Number 1 were not present: Metal position adjusting cover, snap retainer ring, spring retainer cap, spring and bellows."

The FCU's control the amount of fuel delivered to the engines.

A review of the video recording of Columbia employees packing the shipping containers shows the parts were not among the items shipped.

KDRV-TV reports that the general council for Columbia Helicopters said, while employees have searched "high and low" for the missing parts, they have been unable to locate them. The company says the FCU's may not be a focus of the investigation, and therefore may not be important.

Greg Anderson, the attorney for William Coultas, the surviving pilot from the crash, as well as the family of one of those killed in the incident, told the station the omission of the parts from the shipment is "highly suspicious."

Witnesses told the NTSB that the helicopter, which was operated by Carson Helicopters in Grants Pass, Oregon, appeared to hover just over the treeline before going down in a heavily wooded area while engaged in evacuation firefighters from a fire scene near Weaverville, California on August 5th, 2008. One witness said the aircraft did not seem to be fully powered when it went down.

The NTSB is still completing its factual report on the incident.

FMI: www.ntsb.gov