I have been flying the UH-1/BH 205 series aircraft for over 40 years and have logged for nine years. It was May 14, 2014, and I was flying an external-load concrete-pouring job for Trans Aero Ltd. at the Copper Mountain Ski resort in Summit County, Colorado. It was the second phase of a job we had poured previously.
The first fuel cycle was uneventful, and after fueling we started to fly the second cycle. On the fourth load, I heard a sound from the rear of the aircraft that sounded like a small bang. There were no indications on the aircraft instruments that something was wrong and the aircraft was handling just fine, so I came into a hover to see if I could figure out what happened.
Initially, I thought something had simply fallen down in the cabin. Then caution prevailed. I decided to not second-guess myself and landed the aircraft back at staging and shut down.
The ground crew radioed and asked if there was a problem. I told them I heard a bang and was trying to figure out what it was. The ground crew said they also heard it but were not sure what it was.
The initial inspection by the mechanic did not reveal any problems, so I decided to check the tail boom section myself. With a flashlight, I found the longeron cracked aft of the tail boom attaching point. The crack was hard to see if you did not know where to look. We grounded the aircraft and trailered it back to home base.
There are a couple of lessons here that we all need to be reminded of. No matter what your experience level, don’t second-guess yourself. If in doubt, get another opinion. I very easily could have continued to fly the aircraft, and there is no doubt in my mind that would have been a stupid and fatal mistake.
I consider myself very lucky about the outcome. I have close to 22,000 hours and more than 12,000 external-load hours, but remember, no matter what your experience level and flying ability,
the aircraft does not care!
