Posted on 06/28/2002 6:48:55 AM PDT by TADSLOS
Pilot lost control, says rescue team member who was on the craft
ASHFORD -- Army Rangers returned yesterday to where their rescue helicopter crashed the day before on Mount Rainier, flying in to retrieve climbing gear they left behind while rescuing an injured climber.
Neither the pilot nor two rescuers onboard the Bell Jet Ranger helicopter were hurt when it went down late Tuesday afternoon at the 8,800-foot level of the 14,411-foot peak. They were assisting in an effort to rescue climber Jesse Whitcomb, 19, who suffered a head injury earlier in the day.
"I knew the pilot had lost control by feeling what the helicopter was doing," as it landed on Carbon Glacier, said Mount Rainier National Park rescue ranger Chris Olson, who was on board.
"He lost control when he was on the ground and picked it back up instantly, because we were in a real bad position to crash," Olson told KOMO-TV.
The crash snapped the helicopter's tail and rotor blades, but Olson and the other two aboard escaped uninjured. Olson and another rescue ranger climbed 400 feet from the crash site to help Whitcomb, of Carroll Valley, Pa. They were among several rescuers involved.
The cause of the crash remained under investigation yesterday, park spokeswoman Patti Wold said.
Weather permitting, the downed helicopter was to be cabled to another helicopter today and flown to Boeing Field for close inspection, Wold said.
Whitcomb, climbing with his father, Lonnie, and a third person, had been at the 9,400-foot level, ascending Liberty Ridge, when he was struck in the head Tuesday morning by an 18-inch boulder. The rock shattered his helmet and he fell about 100 feet, briefly losing consciousness.
An Army Reserve Chinook helicopter plucked Jesse Whitcomb, his father, their friend and rescuers from the mountain Tuesday night, flying the young man to Madigan Army Medical Center near Tacoma.
Whitcomb was in stable condition at Madigan yesterday, a hospital spokeswoman said.
The crash was similar to one that occurred May 30 on Oregon's Mount Hood, when an Air Force Reserve helicopter went down with six crew members aboard during an attempt to rescue a group of climbers.
The Pave Hawk HH-60G lost altitude, its rotor blades sliced into the snow and then it tumbled down the slope.
That crash remains under investigation.
Yep. Corpus also does complete engine and transmission overhauls. They stay busy and if one of your aircaft is dispatched there for maintenance/overhaul, you usually get a replacement from the Depot or another source, rather than the same tail number. Their backlog is extensive.
Purely speculation on my part but it sounds like a case of dynamic rollover.
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