Gov't air safety questioned in firefighting crash

[December 07, 2010]  WASHINGTON (AP) -- An investigation into the crash of a U.S. Forest Service firefighting helicopter that killed nine people two years ago has revived concerns about the safety of government aircraft.

The National Transportation Safety Board meets Tuesday to determine the cause of the Aug. 5, 2008, crash near Weaverville, Calif., and make safety recommendations. The Sikorsky S-61N helicopter was carrying firefighters from the front lines of a stubborn wildfire in the Trinity Alps Wilderness. It had been airborne less than a minute when it lost power and fell into the forest.

Seven firefighters, the pilot and a Forest Service safety inspector were killed. The co-pilot and three firefighters were injured.

Documents previously released by the board indicate the helicopter, leased to the Forest Service by Carson Helicopters of Grants Pass, Ore., was at least 1,000 pounds overweight when pilots tried to take off from a rugged mountaintop clearing. The documents also indicate Carson may have understated the weight of the helicopter, as well as others in its fleet, preventing the pilots from accurately calculating if the chopper had enough power to carry 13 people plus firefighting equipment and fuel.

An executive for Carson declined to comment.

Twenty-three federal agencies, including the Forest Service, operate 1,632 nonmilitary planes and helicopters, according to the General Services Administration. Some are owned and maintained by the government, while others are leased from private companies such as Carson. Hundreds more are operated by state and local governments.

A string of fatal accidents involving government aircraft over the last two decades has repeatedly drawn attention to safety oversight by regulators, but little has changed.

The Federal Aviation Administration says it doesn't have the authority to regulate and inspect government aircraft, especially when those planes are used for government missions like firefighting, wildlife surveys and border patrol.

Companies that provide aircraft to government agencies for the occasional transport of passengers must follow FAA regulations, according the U.S. General Services Administration. But aircraft dedicated strictly to government use don't receive safety oversight.

"The law that allows those entities to escape the scrutiny and requirements of the FAA is outdated and needs to be changed," said John Goglia, a former NTSB board member.

Fatal accidents involving government aircraft are commonplace. A 2001 study by the board said there were 341 accidents involving nonmilitary government aircraft between 1993 and 2000.

Among accidents in the last two years:

• A Forest Service plane conducting an aerial survey of tree defoliation in southwestern Pennsylvania in June struck a light post while trying to land near Lock Haven, Pa. The pilot and two Forest Service employees were killed.

• A California Fish and Game Department helicopter surveying deer collided with power lines near Fresno, Calif, in January. The pilot and three passengers were killed.

• Also in January, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service helicopter on a repositioning flight crashed northwest of Corvallis, Ore., killing the pilot and a passenger.

• A New Mexico State Police search and rescue helicopter that had just retrieved a lost hiker crashed into a hillside near Santa Fe in June 2009. The pilot and the hiker were killed; a patrolman acting as a spotter was seriously injured.

• Two pilots and a passenger were killed in April 2009 when an air tanker leased by the Forest Service crashed near Stockton, Utah, in rain and fog.

[Associated Press; By JOAN LOWY]

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