Unintended Consequences

Helicopter Crash in California

Authors

  • Terry Hardy Great Circle Analytics

Keywords:

lessons learned, accident, helicopter, simulation

Abstract

On August 5, 2008, a Sikorsky helicopter operated by the U.S. Forest Service crashed into trees and terrain while transporting firefighters near Weaverville, California. Nine people were killed in the crash, including seven firefighters, and four others were seriously injured. The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) report stated that the pilots had significantly overestimated the helicopter’s load-carrying capacity and therefore did not have an adequate performance margin for a successful take-off, leading to the crash.

Author Biography

Terry Hardy, Great Circle Analytics

Terry Hardy leads efforts in system safety and software assurance at Great Circle Analytics. Mr. Hardy has over 25 years of experience and numerous publications in the areas of launch vehicles, space propulsion, cryogenics, software, safety analysis, and risk management. Prior to founding Great Circle Analytics, he led software safety and assurance efforts at Special Aerospace Services and at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center; responsibilities included membership on the Constellation Safety Engineering Review Panel. Mr. Hardy also was the Principal Engineer for Reliability in FAA's Office of Commercial Space Transportation, leading efforts to develop safety, reliability, and risk management regulations, guidance documents, and training. Mr. Hardy holds a BS degree in chemical engineering, an MS degree in chemical engineering, and an MS degree in civil engineering. He also has been certified as a Reliability Engineer, Quality Engineer, and Software Quality Engineer through the American Society for Quality.

References

U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, "Crash During Takeoff of Carson Helicopters, Inc., Firefighting Helicopter Under Contract to the U.S. Forest Service, Sikorsky S-61N, N612AZ, Near Weaverville, California, August 5, 2008," NTSB/AAR-10/06, December 7, 2010. https://libraryonline.erau.edu/online-full-text/ntsb/aircraft-accident-reports/AAR10-06.pdf

Unintended Consequences

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Published

2014-10-01

How to Cite

Hardy, T. (2014). Unintended Consequences: Helicopter Crash in California. Journal of System Safety, 50(3), 9. Retrieved from https://jsystemsafety.com/index.php/jss/article/view/177

Issue

Vol. 50 No. 3 (2014): Selling the Need for Safety

Section

Columns and Perspectives

Categories

License

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.