View Full Version : Bell 206 down in Fairfield
armchairpilot94116
3rd Jun 2020, 03:41
Bell 206 may have hit powerline. 3 dead.
https://www.sfgate.com/news/bayarea/article/Update-Helicopter-Flying-On-Behalf-Of-Pg-E-15312436.php
Solano County sheriff's officials confirmed Tuesday night that the three people in a helicopter that went down near Fairfield earlier in the day died.
At about 1 p.m. the Bell 206 helicopter, contracted to fly on behalf of PG&E, came in contact with a 115 kilovolt power line near Vacaville, PG&E spokeswoman Tamar Sarkissian said.
The helicopter crashed at about 1:30 p.m. near Lyon and Soda Springs roads, a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman said.
At about 3 p.m., PG&E shut off power to about 38,000 customers in the Vacaville/Fairfield area at the request of Cal Fire, which responded to a fire that started because of the crash. The fire burned just a few acres and was out by about 4 p.m., Cal Fire officials said.
Sarkissian said PG&E is looking to restore customers from various sources but due to higher, near-summer temperatures in much of the state and the resulting higher demand on the system, it may take some time to restore everyone.
armchairpilot94116
5th Jun 2020, 03:49
Wonder if they were electrocuted when they touched the high tension wires. They were working on behalf of the power company probably inspecting lines or even clearing debris.
Sad accident. Will post details if they get posted in local newspapers.
Nobody has any comments?
The pilot, (Roscoe Gray), was working for PJ Helicopters, contracted to Pacific Gas & Electric, (PG&E). The two linemen worked for Wilson Construction,, one was a 4 year apprentice, (Travis Shull), the other a Journeyman, (Jimmy Wasdin). (My pilots have worked with both linemen in the past). They were in fact on the end of a line. They would not have been electrocuted as the lines were not "hot" or "live". Unfortunately it appears the helicopter hit the lines and came on top of them and burned.
All PG&E helicopter operations have been on safety stand down for the last 2 days. My pilots and I spent one of those days in a group huddle discussing all sorts of safety issues flying techniques and and we resume flying tomorrow. It is amazing the things you can learn from each other when forced to sit in a room and talk. (11 pilots, 12 different opinions.....). PG&E has suspended all human external cargo until further notice, so we are doing cargo only and the linemen will have to hike into and then climb their towers. This will double the work time for each structure being worked on.
RIP to all 3.
hookes_joint
5th Jun 2020, 13:38
“PG&E has suspended all human external cargo until further notice, so we are doing cargo only and the linemen will have to hike into and then climb their towers.”
Are PG&E going to allow Skid transfers from the 500s while they suspend HEC for transferring the linemen from structure to structure? For the most part, the time difference between skid work and HEC is negligible.
https://youtu.be/VDI8yYHcWw0
DOUBLE BOGEY
5th Jun 2020, 16:33
Human cargo in a SEH. My heart goes out to you guys.
Are PG&E going to allow Skid transfers from the 500s while they suspend HEC for transferring the linemen from structure to structure? For the most part, the time difference between skid work and HEC is negligible.
PG&E has not done skid transfers for some time now, and I doubt they will go back to doing them. As for HEC, they are looking into it, currently suspended all HEC operations TFN.
They have some of the strictest requirements for pilots in the industry--2,500 hours PIC and mandatory Wire Environment training. The wire training is also done by linemen in order to fly up front---if not then they patrol from the back seat and we send 2 pilots.
Human cargo in a SEH. My heart goes out to you guys.
Why? Are you arguing the single vs twin thing again? From what I know, had nothing to do with this accident, or dare I say it the famous twin engine helicopter crash in January. Maybe we should be saying "Human cargo with a single pilot only", or "two pilots are better than two engines".....wow....mind blown....:cool::}:}:cool: There is a good chance that neither of these accidents would have occurred and 12 people would be alive today.
ApolloHeli
5th Jun 2020, 18:17
At about 1 p.m. the Bell 206 helicopter, contracted to fly on behalf of PG&E, came in contact with a 115 kilovolt power line near Vacaville, PG&E spokeswoman Tamar Sarkissian said.
The helicopter crashed at about 1:30 p.m. near Lyon and Soda Springs roads, a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman said.
Was it really 30 minutes between contacting the line and the crash?
Was it really 30 minutes between contacting the line and the crash?
Clearly they made a mistake, it was instantaneous, I believe they took off at 13:00, and crashed 30 minutes later.