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Chips Fire Helicopter Rotor Blade Strike 2012

  • Incident Information:

    Rotor_Blade_Strike_Lessons_Learned

  • Location:

    California

  • Date:

    08/09/2012

  • Incident Type:

    Helicopter Incident

  • Description:

    At approximately 1800 PST on August 9, 2012, a Boeing Vertol 107, type 1 helicopter experienced a main rotor-blade strike while descending into a new dip site. The aircraft was providing support to the Chips Fire on the Plumas National Forest when the incident occurred. The aircrew did not experience any excess vibration; and reported no RPM decay. The PIC tried different maneuvers at different airspeeds to attempt to identify any abnormal flight characteristics, but none were identified. The aircrew then notified air attack (AA) they were returning to base, the crew did not convey to AA that an incident had occurred. Helicopter landed without further incident.

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