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Two Killed In Oregon Helicopter Crash Classified As LODD
Two firefighters who were killed in a helicopter crash October 14 while scouting for dipping pools for wildland firefighting, have been classified by the U.S. Fire Administration as line of duty deaths.
Forest Protection Supervisor David "Craig" Mackey and pilot Richard Warren Black of Weyerhaeuser Corporation were surveying the Siuslaw River for potential dip sites that could be used by water bucket-carrying helicopters for fighting fire.
Weyerhaeuser spokesman Frank Mendizabal said the helicopter was flying low when it came upon unmarked power lines. It appears the rotor got entangled, and the helicopter crashed into the Siuslaw River below, in west central Oregon.
Oregon Department of Forestry spokesman Rod Nichols said the cause of the accident is officially still under investigation by the NTSB and FAA.
Richard Warren Black, 57, had been a pilot for Weyerhaeuser Corporation since 1984, doing forestry related work such as firefighting, scouting and fertilizing, Mendizabal said.
He was a Vietnam veteran, had over 15,000 hours of flight time and was a certified flight instructor. He is survived by his wife and two sons.
Black was also an avid outdoorsman, bicyclist and a cancer survivor, and his family asked that any donations in his memory be made to the Lance Armstrong Cancer Research Fund.
Mendizabal said fellow pilots described him as a rock. "He was a guy anybody could go to about anything, any time," he said. "His reputation was a guy who never had a bad thing to say about anybody."
Mendizabal said Black and Mackey had worked and fought fires together many times.
"The fact that we not only had a helicopter crash, but we lost two very, very good people, was really tough," he said.