WPR09TA353 · Croman SH-3H
United States Forest Service Croman SH-3H · Accident: external load event (Rotorcraft) while maneuvering
From Willow Creek, CA to Willow Creek, CA
Event
- NTSB case
- WPR09TA353
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Completed
- API-reported fatalities
- 0 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Government
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Instrument Meteorological Cond
Croman SH-3H
- Aircraft type
- Croman SH-3
- Category
- Helicopter
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- N613CK
- Operator
- United States Forest Service
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Willow Creek, CATo Willow Creek, CA
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Public Aircraft
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- Maneuvering
- Defining eventThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- External load event (Rotorcraft)
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Aircraft › Aircraft oper/perf/capability
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
- Personnel issues › Task performance
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilot-in-command (PIC) of the firefighting helicopter air tanker reported that he approached the heliwell (a portable tank) by entering a final approach from the south as he had on four previous trips that day. As he lowered the snorkel into the heliwell to get water, he simultaneously made a right pedal turn to position the helicopter for a normal egress departure path. He indicated that all engine parameters were in the normal operating range, that he did not feel any unusual movements in the flight controls, and that the wind seemed to be light and variable. As the helicopter was taking on water, the second-in-command (SIC) called out the number of gallons in the tank, and the PIC released the fill switch at the planned amount. The PIC applied power and initiated a climb just as the snorkel was clearing the water. At this time, the SIC informed the PIC of a "droop" in the rotor rpm. Subsequently, the PIC stopped applying power and started to move the helicopter forward. The SIC then called out that the rotor rpm was at 98 percent. The PIC reduced the power slightly to gain rpm, but the rpm continued to drop. The PIC leveled the helicopter as it continued to descend. The left main landing gear subsequently contacted the heliwell then the uneven ground. The helicopter rolled after ground contact and came to rest on its left side. The PIC did not activate the emergency dump button, which was located on the top left side of the collective, and the SIC did not pull the emergency "T" handle to jettison the load during the accident sequence. Postaccident examinations of the engines and fuel controls found no mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operations.
Probable cause
The pilot’s failure to maintain adequate power during egress from a heliwell, which resulted in collision with the heliwell and a dynamic rollover.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record WPR09TA353
- Event ID
- 20090718X25941
- Case number
- WPR09TA353
- Dataset
- full-current
- Source SHA-256
- 5cf380f0061817c0331a6b2d8cc7e0ee3a79bea469a1001dc5c10e56f35f5ab3
Source notes (4)
- Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
- Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: investigation status, coordinates. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 564cb3f1e2d15ebcc18770ef744bb77d0a7d497dc53ab3a30f716a31943c59e6; retrieved 2026-09-15T11:54:40.513Z.