05/31/2002

By DOUG IRVING, TERESA BELL and ABE ESTIMADA, kgw.com Staff

A rescue helicopter slammed into the side of Mt. Hood on Thursday, splintering its rotors and crashing a thousand feet down the glacial slope.

The Pave Hawk helicopter was part of a fleet of emergency helicopters trying to save nine climbers who had slid into a narrow crevasse in the snow. Three of the climbers died in the fall; the rest were plucked from the mountain throughout the day. More on the Mountain Rescue.

Another rescue helicopter rushed crewmember Staff Sgt. Martin M. Mills, 36, of Portland from the mountain with critical internal injuries, a broken wrist and a leg injury. The other helicopter crewmembers were able to walk to rescue vehicles and were taken to hospitals with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.

(KGW Photos)

Staff Sgt. Darrin Shore, 43, a pararescue specialist was taken off the mountain in fair condition with a left leg fracture and a rib fracture.

The others were identified by the military as Capt. Grant E. Dysle, pilot; Capt. Kelvin B. Scribner, pilot; and 2nd Lt. Ross S. Willson, combat rescue officer. All were transported to area hospitals were they were treated and released.

"As you can see on our rescue patch, 'These things we do that others may live,' and this is what we do," said Scott Nielson, the vice commander of the helicopter's 939th Rescue Wing. "This is the risk that all of us take on when we do this business."

Rescuers struggled in snow vehicles, helicopters and on foot throughout the day to reach the climbers who had fallen. Emergency helicopters shuttled the climbers to area hospitals, where they were being treated for broken bones, head injuries and hypothermia.

All of the injured climbers had made it off the mountain by late Thursday afternoon. Recovery crews were slowly towing the three dead climbers down the slopes Thursday evening.

The helicopter was bringing up an injured climber on a stretcher. It hovered over the rescue site, then suddenly rocked backward and seemed to wobble. Crewmembers radioed, “Chopper’s going down, chopper’s going down.” As the helicopter lost altitude, a crewmember quickly released the cable on the stretcher.

The long refueling boom at the front of the helicopter dug into the snow, and the rotors slashed into the mountainside. The crew radioed, “Black Hawk down,” as the helicopter pitched into the mountain, shearing off its rotor blades. It rolled six times before coming to rest upside-down.

The helicopter came to a rest upside-down. (KGW Photo)

Maj. Kris Kraiger of the 304th Rescue Squadron said he did not know what caused the helicopter to crash. The 939th Rescue Wing said it would launch an investigation.

The weather was clear and winds were calm at the time, but other helicopters seemed to sway as they hovered. The air was thin, and Kraiger said, “it’s a dangerous place.”

“We can just thank God that nobody was killed in this accident,” Kraiger said. “Everybody made it out safely.”

The Pave Hawk is the Air Force’s version of the Army’s Black Hawk helicopter, and is well-suited to rescue missions and to combat. It can carry four wounded people on stretchers; Kraiger said it also usually carries two pilots, a flight engineer and paramedics.

The helicopter costs about $9.3 million.