A fatal firefighting Chinook crash was tied to a loose iPad that jammed the flight controls.
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A loose iPad that jammed a flight control pedal appears to have triggered the fatal crash of a Boeing CH-47D Chinook helicopter on a firefighting mission last summer, according to information recently published in an NTSB accident investigation docket. Officially, the NTSB has yet to issue a formal probable-cause finding.
Both crewmembers died after the aircraft, operated by Rotak Helicopter Services, crashed on July 21, 2022, near North Fork, Idaho. The helicopter was setting up for a water bucket dip 250 feet above the Salmon River and then entered into a left yaw turn that continued until it hit the water. The iPad was found in the river near the wreckage. Examination of an exemplar helicopter and accident iPad suggests that it fell between the left pedal and airframe next to the heel slide support assembly on the copilot’s side.
During tests on the exemplar helicopter conducted by the NTSB, it was found that with the iPad positioned in a way that matched the damage to the tablet, pressure applied by the pilot’s left pedal “allowed the iPad to fall farther into the left pedal and jam between the heel slide support assembly. The jammed IPad prevented the pedals from recentering. The iPad also pushed against copilot’s left pedal adjustment lever,” according to the NTSB. “When pressure was applied to the pilot’s right pedal, the iPad was squeezed in between the pedal and the heel slide support assembly…Additional right pedal input forced the iPad to apply more pressure to the copilot’s pedal adjustment lever.”
The NTSB found that neither pilot could reach the iPad in this position and that the crew’s flight helmets and restraints, as well as the cockpit instrument panel visor, further impeded the crew’s ability to reach down toward it.
A loose iPad that jammed a flight control pedal appears to have triggered the fatal crash of a Boeing CH-47D Chinook helicopter on a firefighting mission last summer, according to information recently published in an NTSB accident investigation docket. Officially, the NTSB has yet to issue a formal probable-cause finding.
Both crewmembers died after the aircraft, operated by Rotak Helicopter Services, crashed on July 21, 2022, near North Fork, Idaho. The helicopter was setting up for a water bucket dip 250 feet above the Salmon River and then entered into a left yaw turn that continued until it hit the water. The iPad was found in the river near the wreckage. Examination of an exemplar helicopter and accident iPad suggests that it fell between the left pedal and airframe next to the heel slide support assembly on the copilot’s side.
During tests on the exemplar helicopter conducted by the NTSB, pressure applied by the pilot’s left pedal “allowed the iPad to fall farther into the left pedal and jam between the heel slide support assembly. The jammed IPad prevented the pedals from recentering."
The NTSB found that neither pilot could reach the iPad in this position and that the crew’s flight helmets and restraints, as well as the cockpit instrument panel visor, further impeded the crew’s ability to reach down toward it.