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A small slip eventually led to a tragedy involving a helicopter in the United States that was on firefighting. The accident happened last year involving a Boeing CH47 Chinook aircraft of military origin but operated by a civilian firefighting company in the state of Idaho.
The plane was filling up its water basket when it went into a spin and crashed into the Salmon River, seriously injuring the two pilots who later died in hospital.
Disclosure NTSB
The NTSB launched an investigation, which found an iPad in the rubble. A detailed analysis revealed that the device was wedged between the plane’s pedals.
iPads are now standard equipment in aviation and are used with applications that support multipurpose navigation with charts, charts, GPS, performance calculation functions and other useful functions.
Disclosure NTSB
While on larger aircraft it is attached to the cabin structure or to a suction cup on the windshield, space is limited on a smallercabin helicopter. In this case, the crashed pilots ended up leaving the device in their legs, investigators said.
However, the strap holding the device came loose and it fell between the pedals on the copilot’s side. The pilot could even have tried to reach the iPad, but due to the depth he was at and the plate and helmet preventing him from descending any further, he was unable to reach it.
Disclosure NTSB
The worst happened when the pedal was moved and the iPad caught the mechanism linking the two riders. This left the pedal stuck in one position and since it controlled the direction of the helicopter, which in the Chinook’s case had counterrotating engines, the pilots lost control.
In the next act, the CH47 banked sideways and the pilots were unable to correct the bank. Then the machine began to make a tighter turn, spiraled and fell into the river, as shown in the video below taken by a witness.
The information comes from the NTSB, the agency responsible for the investigation, whose preliminary report was only released today. Further details will be included in the final report.