An Agusta A119 medical helicopter that crashed near Mancos 17 months ago, killing all three aboard, may have had problems with its fuel control unit, including installation of a wrong-sized bolt, according to federal air-safety investigators.
The June 30, 2005, accident killed pilot James Saler, 40, flight nurse Bill Podmayer, 49, and paramedic Scott Hyslop, 33.
The flight, operated by Tri-State Care Flight of Bullhead City, Ariz., had been dispatched to an area 7.5 miles northeast of Mancos to assist a logger who had been injured in a trucking accident.
On the day of the accident, the helicopter was operating out of Durango.
A volunteer firefighter at the landing zone said the helicopter “made a low pass, then circled around to make his landing approach,” the National Transportation Safety Board said in a five-page report issued this week.
According to the eyewitness, the copter was about 220 feet above tree level when “it dropped straight down.”
The accident occurred at an elevation of 9,731 feet.
Saler had 2,215 total flight hours, including 130 hours in the Agusta A119, the NTSB report said.
The helicopter that crashed was about 5 years old.
A review of maintenance records by NTSB investigators showed that the aircraft’s fuel control unit had been removed and replaced in June 2002 and that the fuel unit was again replaced along with the fuel pump seven months later.
No reasons were given for the replacements, NTSB said.
The agency has yet to determine a probable cause of the fatal accident, but NTSB lead investigator Arnold Scott said anomalies with the fuel control unit, including “the wrong bolt in the wrong hole,” are “the only thing we found wrong.”
While investigators were examining the crash site, “family members of the deceased crew” told NTSB that two weeks before the accident, the pilot had complained of “rpm droop” on the aircraft.
Accident reports define “droop” as a “decay” in rotor rpm, or revolutions per minute.
The NTSB report said the pilot filed a report on the problem June 18 and during a maintenance examination, a “loose bleed air line” was discovered. The line was tightened, the report said, and after testing, the aircraft was “approved for return to service.”
There is no indication the line contributed to the accident.
Staff writer Jeffrey Leib can be reached at 303-954-1645 or jleib@denverpost.com.
