SEVIER COUNTY, Utah — A preliminary report was released Tuesday for the helicopter flight that crashed while battling the Widemouth 2 Fire in central Utah.
The report, released by the National Transportation Safety Board, sheds some light on what happened on Aug. 7, when two pilots, Miles Elliott and Chris Andersen, lost their lives in the chopper crash.
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Elliott and Andersen were flying a Sikorsky CH-54A Skycrane Helitanker, with a 2,650-gallon water tank and "retractable hover-snorkel system." They worked for Helicopter Transport Services on a contract with the U.S. Forest Service.
The NTSB report says the helicopter went down just 23 minutes after taking off from the Richfield Municipal Airport at 10:21 a.m. that day.
After communicating with the aerial supervisor, the helicopter crew flew to a water source to fill its tank, then went to a designated site to drop water on the wildfire that was more than 100,000 acres at the time.
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The helicopter arrived at the location where the water drop was requested. The crew flew over the area to confirm the correct location, then told supervisors on the ground that they'd make one more pass before releasing the water.
But as the helicopter made a right turn, it disappeared behind a knoll. They were heard on the radio saying, "we have a problem," followed shortly by, "Mayday, mayday, mayday." That was the last communication received from the two-man crew.
The NTSB said the helicopter crashed into "rising terrain," although the cause of the crash is still under investigation.
Much of the helicopter was destroyed by a fire that was sparked by the crash. That fire then merged with the existing "megafire."
Some components were collected by NTSB investigators for examination and testing. The rest of the wreckage will be recovered later, once the conditions in the area are safe enough to do so, the NTSB said.
