Incident Overview
A fire department helicopter was conducting a rescue operation to insert two police officers into mountainous terrain to search for a missing hiker. The officers were positioned in a rescue net suspended 50 feet below the helicopter. The pilot was flying without an observer.
Weather and Warnings
Deteriorating weather conditions, including cloud cover and turbulence, were present at the time. Ground personnel warned the pilot three times about the worsening conditions. A witness reported that the helicopter was partially obscured by clouds while the net remained in clear air.
Witness Observations
Hikers located in a canyon near the accident site observed the rescue net swinging like a pendulum through an arc of 45 to 50 degrees.
Wreckage Examination
Examination of the wreckage revealed that the line securing the net to the helicopter became entangled with the main rotor. The line was found wrapped around the main rotor mast, and all main rotor pitch change links were fractured.
Pilot Experience
According to the pilot's fire department records, he had accumulated 511 hours of helicopter flight time and 2,500 hours of fixed-wing time. Recovered records documented approximately 261 hours of actual helicopter time. The pilot had received about 50 hours of dual instruction from the fire department chief pilot in their specific type of operations.