USCG Crash in Utah mountains.

[Moose Loadie]

ksl.com - 3 injured in helicopter crash in Uinta Mountains (http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=9879701)

Wishing a swift recovery to the injured crew members.

[Gordy]

Firstly---let me say that I wish them all speedy recovery.....

Ya know-----have been watching this story unfold all day...(slow day in fire)..

I believe in discussion after accidents/incidents....in contrary to most on here who prefer to keep it to just condolences...I believe that at the very least we need to learn from the mistakes of others so that we do not make the same ones...

I have flown in that area on fires---I am based just north of the Uinta's, in the Caribou Targhee forest during the peak of fire season....From what I can tell about the location of the crash----I would not fly over there in clear weather---let alone "questionable" conditions. They were on a transit home....sometimes, (read 90% of the time) tis better to follow the major roads through passes instead of crossing a mountain in the middle.

Like I said---I wish them speedy recovery....

[S76Heavy]

Having no experience in mountain flying, would you care to elaborate please?

From what I read in the article it seems CFIT in bad visibility, but what are the effects of air density, turbulence etc that make mountain flying different from cruising at altitude?

[Ned-Air2Air]

S76Heavy - From what I have seen on trips I have been on in the mountains in rough stuff you can get thrown around like you wouldnt believe. Went on one trip with Bill Reid here in NZ years ago and it was probably the roughest flight I have ever had. In one case he had the collective up around the stops and we were still going down and then seconds later it was the complete opposite.

Winds in the mountains, coming over the tops and ridges etc can be treacherous and demand a lot of respect. From my limited experience I would say winds at high alt would be constant whereas in the mountains they come over ridges, around bends etc so it makes it very unpredictable.

Sorry to see the end result wasnt good for these guys. Hope the injured get better quickly.

Ned

[SASless]

There are other routings that would have taken benefit of lower elevations, flatter ground and bigger highways than the direction they seem to be using.

I would have gone Vancouver, Portland, Boise, Pocatello, then cut the corner following US 30 to I-80 in Wyoming.....then east to St. Louis down to Nashville and east onto North Carolina. The highest point would have been in the range of 6500-7000 feet but in wide open flattish ground in Wyoming.

That is without knowing what the weather was of course....

[Ian Corrigible]

Subsequent (http://hamptonroads.com/2010/03/elizabeth-citybased-coast-guard-helicopter-crashes-utah) reports (http://www.sltrib.com/ci_14504911) now saying that the aircraft involved was one of the newly refurbished MH-60Ts.

I/C