Incidents and accidents
- On 9 March 1996 a Carson Helicopters de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter (reg. N245GW) departed Bagua, in Peru's Amazonas Region, on an aerial geological survey near the Cenepa River, in Peru's dense Amazon region jungle near the disputed border with Ecuador. [9] The plane did not return to Bagua, and no communications were ever sent by the plane, with SAR operations turning out unsuccessful. [10] The plane may have had run out of fuel and crashed as bad weather en route reportedly altered the planned course, leading to the aircraft's fuel becoming critical. [11] No flight plan was filed. The occupants, an American pilot-in-command, an American survey operator, and a Peruvian Air Force observer, are presumed deceased. [12]
- On 9 June 2008 workers from Carson Helicopters sparked a fire in the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge which burned for 111 days. [13] Carson Helicopters had been in the process of completing a 1,110 acre clearing project to remove trees damaged by Hurricane Isabel in 2003 when sparks from logging equipment ignited the blaze [14] A federal contract with Carson Helicopters allowed the company to keep valuable cedar recovered during the clean up effort in exchange for also removing unusable timber. [15] The fire was declared out on October 7, 2008. Total cost to suppress the 4 month, 4,884-acre blaze has been estimated at over $12.5 million. [16]
- On 5 August 2008 a Carson Helicopters Sikorsky S-61N crashed on take off. According to the NTSB, nine people were killed. These were the pilot-in-command, Roark Schwanenberg, 54, of Lostine, Forest Service safety official Jim Ramage, 63, and seven firefighters: Shawn Blazer, 30, of Medford; Scott Charlson, 25, of Phoenix, Ore.; Matthew Hammer, 23, of Grants Pass; Edrik Gomez, 19, of Ashland; Bryan Rich, 29, of Medford; David Steele, 19, of Ashland; and Steven "Caleb" Renno, 21, of Cave Junction. The copilot and three firefighters escaped the burning wreckage and survived with serious injuries. The NTSB's preliminary report determined that the cause was a loss of power on take off probably caused by an engine failure. In January 2010 the NTSB issued its final report finding that the probable causes of this accident were several actions by Carson Helicopters: intentional understatement of the helicopter's empty weight; alteration of the power available chart to exaggerate the helicopter's lift capability; using unapproved torque in performance calculations; and that additional causes were insufficient oversight by the U.S. Forest Service and the Federal Aviation Administration. [17] [18] Relatives of the victims concerned by the change in the NTSB report filed a lawsuit against General Electric and on March 27, 2012 a jury unanimously ruled that the primary cause of the accident was the failure of the GE CT-58 engines.
- In February 2013, two former Carson Helicopters employees were indicted over charges related to the August 2008 crash. A federal grand jury in Medford, Oregon indicted Steven Metheny, a former Vice President of Carson, and Levi Phillips, the former maintenance chief of the company. Charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States were filed against both, with Metheny also being charged with other violations including mail fraud, wire fraud, making false statements to the Forest Service, and endangering the safety of an aircraft in flight. The U.S. Attorneys office also accused Metheny of "stealing continuously from Carson," and using "Carson funds to buy jewelry and other personal items for himself and his wife and to renovate their residence and sold Carson helicopter parts and equipment and diverted the proceeds for his own use." [3] The findings of the National Transportation Safety Board in 2010 stated there was "intentional wrong-doing" by Carson Helicopters that under-stated the weight of the Sikorsky S-61N helicopter and over-stated its performance in their bid to the USFS on $20 million in contracts for seven helicopters. A Federal jury found that the August 2008 accident was 23% due to this understatement of weight and overstatement of performance. [4]
- In September 2013, former maintenance chief of Carson Levi Phillips admitted fraud and pleaded guilty in a deal that included his full cooperation with the investigation, and testifying against former Carson VP Metheny [19]
- In June 2015, former Carson VP Steven Metheny was sentenced to 12 years, 7 months in prison for falsifying documents that led to the 2008 crash. [3]