7 thoughts on “CAL FIRE Helicopter 101”

    1. Or I guess I should ask is there a report that can be accessed as the second updated report is a broken link…

      1. The second link worked for me, here’s an excerpt from it:

        “After investigation it has been determined that C-101’s hard landing on July 3, 2012 was a result of a mechanical failure. The mechanical failure was caused from a faulty O ring in the fuel regulator.

        The fuel controls were removed and sent to South West Fuel Systems, a certified FAA & Goodrich Overhaul facility. The fuel regulator was placed on a test flow bench and set up so that it would run at full throttle (as it should have run during the approach to Howard Forest). It ran lean, meaning the fuel was coming out of the control nozzle at a significantly reduced flow. Such a reduced flow that it was below the “ground idle” fuel flow. It ran this way for several minutes and then without any additional manipulation changed to a more normal fuel flow.

        South West Fuel Systems was able to determine from disassembly that some of the O rings had flat areas on them, the result of slow deterioration. These flat areas allow internal leakage and the inspectors identified this as the probable cause of the problem. The symptom was intermittent and hard to duplicate.”

  1. That’s the bird that took a digger short of the pad at Howard Forest last year. Good to see her back in tip top shape!

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