Helicopter Crashes in Grand Canyon

[Nac Mac Feegle]

1. Scary, I've been in those helicopters

I have a WEIRD job.
It occasionally involves flying into the Grand Canyon and landing at various locations to work on equipment.

Usually, it's the Park Service MD900, but if there are problems, or it's in use, we have an EC130 from Papillon.

The EC130 is a single engine bird, while the MD900 has dual engines. The increased capacity of the 900 is better for cargo and long-line work.

Something that a lot of people don't understand is that the South Rim is approximately 7000 feet, 2KM, above sea level. The air is much thinner. This requires a lot more out of the craft, it also limits the weight the craft can work. Temperature also affects the density of the air, warmer air is less dense, limiting the lift available.

Sometimes the pilot of a 'heavy' bird has to use the updrafts on the face of the Canyon wall to get enough lift to go over the top on a warm day.

The upshot of this is that there are a lot of ways something can go wrong.

Each flight starts out with a 10 minute safety lecture and instructions of what to do in an emergency. There's a reason for that. This is why.

This is a situation where thought and prayers are definitely in order.

When something goes wrong, a LOT of very skilled and highly trained people go into intense action. They deserve our best wishes, too. Going after a crash scene to rescue victims is not an easy undertaking. Stuff like this almost invariably happens in places that are very difficult and dangerous to get to.

This will be a very large rescue and recovery operation, involving a very large number of people an equipment.